Military forces look on in North Sinai, Egypt. Reuters

It was the heaviest loss of life the army had suffered in years in its long-running campaign in and around the Sinai against militants loyal to the Daesh group.

Five soldiers were also wounded in the firefight on the eastern bank of the canal, the army said, adding security forces were "continuing to chase the terrorists and surround them in an isolated area of the Sinai".

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"These terrorist operations will not defeat the determination of the country and the army to continue uprooting terrorism," President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi pledged on Facebook.

Washington condemned the "terrorist attack in the Sinai targeting members of the Egyptian military" and expressed its condolences to the victims' families.

"For decades, the United States has been and remains Egypt's strong partner in confronting terrorism in the region," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

In February 2018, the army and police launched a nationwide operation against militants focused on North Sinai.

More than a thousand suspected militants and dozens of security personnel have been killed since the start of operations, according to official figures.

Agence France-Presse