CAIRO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Six Egyptian soldiers and 24 militants were killed as the Egyptian army foiled terrorist attacks on checkpoints in North Sinai province, the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement on Sunday.
The foiled terrorist attempt in mid-day targeted checkpoints in Qawadis area in North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, said Egypt's military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay in the statement.
"Another terrorist was injured and two four-by-four vehicles used by the terrorist elements were destroyed," the spokesman added, noting that the forces are currently combing the area in search for escaping terrorists.
The confrontations came two days after a terrorist attack killed six soldiers in the restive province on Friday.
North Sinai has been the center of anti-government terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military removal of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
The army removed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
Since then, most of the terrorist operations were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group.
The Egyptian military in cooperation with the police killed hundreds of militants and arrested a similar number of suspects as part of the country's anti-terror war declared in 2013 by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's removal.
