An Egyptian military court has sentenced a Libyan militant to death and others to heavy jail terms over a deadly militant attack on security forces two years ago.

The case stems from an October 2017 attack on a police patrol in the Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert which killed 16 security personnel and injured 13 others.

The court sentenced on Sunday a Libyan militant, identified as Abdel-Rehim Al-Mosmary, to death. The man, who was the main defendant in the case, received training on using heavy weapons and making explosives in Libya before infiltrating into Egypt through the Western Desert to carry out terrorist attacks in the country, the court said. He was arrested shortly after the attack.

Five others were sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 to between three and 15 years over charges including murder, attempted murder and joining a terrorist group, the court said. It did not specify the nationalities of the other defendants.

Thirty others have been exonerated in the case.

Egypt is fighting an Islamist terrorist insurgency based in North Sinai, which intensified in 2013 following the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Crushing the militants, who have mainly targeted police and army personnel, and restoring security have been a key priority of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

Egyptian security forces launched an extensive security operation in February 2018 to eliminate the militants, killing hundreds of them in raids.