Egyptian police in the city of Arish, capital of North Sinai, fought off a major terrorist attack on a security checkpoint on Monday, the interior ministry said.

Militants opened fire at security personnel at a checkpoint on the International Road, meanwhile deploying a car loaded with explosives. However, the police were able to win the firefight and prevent the car from reaching its target.

"Security forces repelled the attack and destroyed the trapped vehicle before it reached the checkpoint," an interior ministry statement said.

Egypt's military spokesman also reported on anti-terrorist actions elsewhere in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Egyptian Air Force targeted a "terrorist assemblage" for leaders of Ansar Bait El-Maqdis, the Daesh offshoot, in North Sinai on Tuesday.

Reporting on another operation, the military spokesman said that security forces units have arrested several "extremely dangerous takfiri terrorists" in Central Sinai.

Egypt's army and police have been fighting an insurgency in parts of North Sinai for the past few years. Hundreds of militants and security forces personnel have been killed in the insurgency since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.