Egyptian troops have killed 14 suspected militants and arrested others in the northern Sinai Peninsula since Friday.

Twenty three other suspects were arrested in the raid, army spokesman colonel Ahmed Ali said in a statement on Monday.

The operations are part of a broad air and ground campaign against Islamist militants in Sinai.

The three-day offensive destroyed 24 suspected insurgent hideouts, including shacks and houses used for attacks, as well as 11 arms depots housing "goods set to be smuggled to Gaza,” the statement said.

Egypt's authorities say that Islamist militants in the underdeveloped peninsula have links to insurgents in the Palestinian enclave.

The army has been waging a parallel campaign to demolish tunnels running along Egypt's border with the Palestinian territory as part of the crackdown.

Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in drive-by shootings and bombings in recent months.

A Sinai-based radical group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the deadly attacks that have recently spread into the capital Cairo and the Nile Delta.