Nine Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai offensive against IS-linked militants

Nine Egyptian soldiers and 13 suspected militants were killed and wounded Thursday as part of the Egyptian army’s ongoing military operations in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's army has said.

"As a continuation of the efforts of the armed forces to eliminate terrorists in central and northern Sinai, the counter-terrorism forces managed to seize 15 automatic rifles, quantities of ammunition of various calibres, and 20 automatic rifles," according to a statement released by Egyptian army spokesman, Col. Gharib Abdel Hafez Gharib.

He added that the armed forces also seized a number of motorcycles used by the militants in carrying out operations, as well as mobile phones, field binoculars, and sums of money of various currencies.

An affiliate of the Islamic State group called Wilayat Sina ("Sinai Province") is active in Sinai, and have been engaged in a long-running insurgency against Egyptian government forces for years.

Earlier this month, the Egyptian army said that it had killed 89 IS-affiliated insurgents after the militants launched attacks on security forces which killed eight soldiers.