President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday met with Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and General Intelligence chief Raafat Shehata at the presidential palace in Cairo to discuss the recent kidnapping of seven Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.

According to a presidential statement issued Thursday evening, officials at the meeting reviewed efforts exerted to date – on both the political and security levels – aimed at securing the soldiers' release. They also reportedly discussed plans for tightening security at Egypt's borders.

The statement added that "serious efforts" remained underway aimed at resolving outstanding security issues in Sinai, including grievances aired by Bedouin tribesmen regarding the lack of development in the peninsula.

Early Thursday, seven members of the Egyptian security forces were kidnapped by militants who allegedly belong to the Sinai-based Tawhid wal-Jihad group. The seven included one member of the armed forces, four port security officers and two state security officers.

Following the incident, a security source revealed that the kidnappers had demanded the release of Islamist militants detained for almost two years.

The militants were convicted of killing five security officers and one civilian during a string of attacks in June/July 2011 on an Al-Arish city police station and a North Sinai branch of the Bank of Alexandria. A total of 25 individuals were charged in the case.

The security source, who asked not to be named, added that the kidnappers had accused Egyptian security forces of torturing one of their detained colleagues.

The restive Egypt-Gaza border region has witnessed an upswing in violence over the course of the past few months, which have featured frequent clashes between security forces and militants.