According to AFP, Egypt's military announced on Sunday that it has killed 89 suspected terrorists in operations in North Sinai, where an ISIS affiliate has been active for more than a decade.

"As part of ongoing efforts to pursue and defeat terrorist elements," the army spokesperson said, "the armed forces... carried out operations in northern Sinai that killed 89 dangerous takfiris."

His statement did not provide a timeline for the operations but stated the army had lost eight casualties. He used the phrase "takfiri" to allude to hardline Islamists.

404 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), four explosive belts, and 13 tunnels used by militants to penetrate Egyptian territory were also demolished, according to the army.

For some years, Egypt has been waging an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula that has occasionally spread to other regions of the country. The Sinai Province, an ISIS offshoot in Egypt, claimed responsibility for the majority of the assaults during this time period.

Since April 2018, the country has been in a state of emergency after two suicide attacks at churches claimed by ISIS killed at least 45 people in Tanta and Alexandria.

Egypt started Operation Sinai 2018 in February 2018 in an effort to clear the Sinai Peninsula of Islamic terrorists.

The operation took place the day after ISIS terrorists stormed a security checkpoint in the northern Sinai Peninsula, killing at least five security personnel.