Egypt’s military launched air strikes and ground operations that killed 63 gunmen in North Sinai on Sunday.

Egypt's military launched air strikes and ground operations that killed 63 gunmen in North Sinai on Sunday, security sources said.

Security sources said on Sunday troops killed the 63 in villages between the towns of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah.

The army found four militant hideouts and attacked them with Apache helicopters and ground troops. It also attacked vehicles belonging to the militants, the security sources added.

The Sinai Province, the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) affiliate in Egypt, claimed the murder of hundreds of soldiers and police since Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammad Mursi ousted.

Last Monday, a car bomb in Cairo killed Egypt's top prosecutor, the highest-profile official to die since the insurgency began.

Egyptian government officials accused Muslim Brotherhood group of links to Sinai attacks.

Egypt's interior ministry said on Sunday it had arrested 12 Brotherhood members who had formed three cells with the intention of carrying out attacks on policemen, soldiers and military and police bases.

Also on Sunday, the prosecutors referred to trial 22 people charged with planting bombs near targets including the high court and cabinet buildings, state news agency MENA reported.

The Sinai has recently witnessed some of the heaviest fighting between security forces and extremist militants since the army toppled Mursi in 2013.