CAIRO (Reuters) - Seven soldiers and one civilian were killed in an ambush in Egypt’s North Sinai region on Friday, security sources said, in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

Two soldiers were also wounded in the attack in Bir al-Abed, the two security sources said.

Islamic State said 15 soldiers had been killed in the attack, in a statement carried by its Amaq agency. The claim could not be verified.

Egypt has long been fighting Islamist militants, who have waged an insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers, police and residents, in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.

Also on Friday, Egypt’s Defence Ministry said security forces had killed 118 militants in north and central Sinai in the “past period”, without giving dates.