A picture taken on July 26, 2018 shows Egyptian policemen driving on a road leading to the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish.

:: Egyptian security forces have killed 11 suspected extremists in the Sinai Peninsula as they press a campaign against militants in the area, a security source said Monday.

The military launched a sweeping operation in February focused on the Sinai in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out extremists, including from ISIS, who have been waging a bloody insurgency.

“Eleven terrorist elements were killed in an exchange of fire” with security forces in El-Arish, the capital of North Sinai province, the security source said.

The extremists were in an abandoned petrol station “preparing terrorist acts” against security forces, the source added.

Extremists have been launching an insurgency in Egypt after the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, forced out by the military in the face of mass protests against his rule.

Hundreds of police and soldiers have since been killed in the attacks.

The military says around 300 suspected extremists and at least 35 soldiers have been killed since the February launch of the “Sinai 2018” operation.