Egypt’s army announced late on Tuesday the end of the first stage of the "Martyr's Right" operation, which involved the killing of over 500 militants in North Sinai as the armed forces battle an Islamist insurgency in the restive province. 

The army announced the end of the first stage, which lasted 16 days, after the "achievement of its primary objectives", which include destroying terrorist hideouts and artillery storage facilities.

“This operation reflected the cohesion between the army, police and the people of Sinai – as well as the unprecedented welcoming [of the people of Sinai] of joint cooperation to control the security situation and to regain their rights of security and stability,” the army said in a statement.

North Sinai, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, is a stronghold of Islamist militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an Egyptian affiliate of ISIS that intensified its attacks against army and police personnel after the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

In the last two years, the army has been combating the spike in militant insurgency in the peninsula, with hundreds of security personnel killed or injured.

The army said that all offensives in the Martyr's Right operation were conducted according to human rights laws and ethical standards to protect civilian lives.

The second stage of the operation, according to the statement, will “pave the road for creating suitable conditions to start development projects in Sinai”.

The operation also extended to the Bahariya Oasis in western Egypt, where the army killed on Monday 10 militants who were “planning to execute terrorist and criminal acts against vital targets and foreign interests during the Eid vacation, scheduled to take place from 23 to 27 September.”