On Saturday, eleven Egyptian troops were murdered attempting to foil a "terrorist" attack in the Suez Canal zone bordering the Sinai Peninsula, a hotspot of jihadist activity, according to the army.

It was the worst defeat the army had sustained in years in its long-running operation against Islamic State-aligned militants in and around Sinai.

According to the army, five soldiers were also injured in the gunfire on the eastern Sinai bank of the canal, which added that security forces "continue to pursue the terrorists and encircle them in an isolated area of Sinai."

Since the 2013 removal of the late Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt has been plagued by an armed insurgency that reached its height in 2013.

In February of 2018, the army and police launched a nationwide operation against militants, with a focusștiiștiinștiiștiinștiiștiiștiiștiiștiiștiiștiiștiiștiiștiiștiiștii

According to official statistics, more than a thousand suspected militants and dozens of security officers have been killed since the beginning of operations.

Egypt agreed with Israel in November to increase its troop presence in the border town of Rafah to combat extremists.

In August, the army reported that 13 militants and nine soldiers were "killed or wounded" during clashes in Sinai but did not specify when the fighting occurred.