A top member of the Islamic State in Sinai has been killed in an Egyptian army operation in the center of the peninsula, Sky News Arabia reported Saturday, quoting Egyptian security sources.

Hamad Salim Sulaiman, the news network reported, was a roadside bomb specialist involved in numerous bomb attacks and armed assaults against Egyptian army and police forces in Sinai.

There were no details on the nature of the operation that killed Sulaiman.

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Earlier this month IS in Sinai claimed it executed five men it accused of working for the army.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 unleashed a bloody crackdown on his supporters.

The crackdown decimated the Islamist movement and killed hundreds of his followers, and set off a jihadist insurgency that has killed hundreds of security personnel.

Most of the attacks have taken place in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, but attacks have also been carried out in other areas including Cairo.

AFP contributed to this report.