REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ARISH -- At least 22 hardliners were killed and 30 others seriously injured on Monday during security raids on their hideouts in Egypt's North Sinai province, security sources told Xinhua.

According to the sources, the armed forces dealt with the militants from dawn time until the afternoon, using military Apaches and tanks to target their gatherings in three villages where they were planing terrorist operations against new military checkpoints in Sheikh Zuweid.

"The three cells of militants planned terrorist attack with suicide bombers, car bombs and explosive devices and belts, but the armed forces successfully foiled their attempts by a prior counterattack," said the sources, noting the militants belonged to the Sinai-based, al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group.

Earlier on Monday, three policemen and three civilians were injured as two explosive devices targeted two buildings mostly inhabited by policemen in North Sinai's Arish city.

Terrorist activities mounted in Egypt since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the army in July 2013 and the following security crackdown on his loyalists that left over 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

On the other hand, hundreds of police and army personnel were killed in attacks carried out by extremists and self-proclaimed Islamists since Morsi's removal.

The ABM group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and vowed loyalty to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group, claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government attacks.

In its annual report released in late May, Egypt's National Council for Human Rights said that the violence since Morsi's removal has resulted in the deaths of 2,600 people, including 700 police and army men, 550 civilians and 1,250 Brotherhood members and supporters.

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