Latest military reports indicate that16 ISIS-linked jihadists were killed in an operation carried out by Egyptian military in Sinai.
Egyptian military launched a sweeping campaign after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is vying in elections for his second term this month, gave them a three-month deadline to defeat ISIS in Sinai.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued his ultimatum in November last year after suspected ISIS jihadists massacred more than 300 worshippers in a Sinai mosque associated with Sufi Muslim mystics.
The ISIS-linked jihadists have been responsible for several deaths across Egypt since the military, led by Sisi, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
The jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers, policemen and civilians, mainly in North Sinai but also elsewhere in Egypt.
They have also killed scores of Christians in church bombings and shootings, as well as bombing a Russian airliner carrying tourists from an Egyptian resort in 2015, killing all 224 people on board.
The military says it has evidence ISIS jihadists have sought to move members to Sinai following its defeats in Iraq and Syria.
