Four IS-linked militants sentenced to death in Egypt

They were found by the court to be members of the 'Wilayat Giza', a branch of the Islamic State group, and involved in a series of deadly attacks last year, according to a judicial source.

Sixteen others received life sentences of 25 years, while 15 were jailed for five to 15 years.

"The defendants used arms, explosives and bombs" in the attacks, the head of the military court said, quoted in the government newspaper Akhbar al-Youm.

Those convicted have the right to appeal their sentences at the military supreme court, according to an army official.

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Seventeen defendants were acquitted in the military trial.

Since the ousting of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, Egyptian forces have been struggling with insurgency in the Sinai.

According to security sources, the alleged militants attempted to form a terror cell in Giza, linked to Wilayat Sinai, in 2016.

Wilayat, meaning state, is in reference to it being an outpost of the Islamic State's former so-called caliphate in Syria in Iraq.

The Egyptian military launched a sweeping operation in February focused on the Sinai in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out the extremists.

The army reported having killed 52 suspected militants in an operation on Monday.

However, rights groups have accused Egypt's military of gross human rights violations in the Sinai, including the killing and torture of civilians since the area was put on lockdown earlier this year.