The Egyptian military said it killed the assailants as it clashed with extremists in North Sinai.

:: Egyptian army declared on Friday, that 40 attackers killed, 6 cars destroyed in checkpoint attack in Sinai, Egypt.

Egyptian official sources said that the security forces toll in Sinai attack has risen to 23 dead and 33 injured.

The Egyptian soldiers were targeted on Friday in attacks on several checkpoints in Sinai that included car bombings, the military said in a statement.

The military said it killed the assailants as it clashed with extremists in North Sinai, where the ISIS group is leading a deadly insurgency.

it was earlier reported that a car bomb followed by fierce gunfire was unleashed on a military checkpoint in northeastern Sinai Peninsula on Friday.

The officials said the blitz attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint at a military compound in the southern Rafah village of el-Barth, followed by heavy gunfire from dozens of masked militants on foot.

The dead included a high ranking special forces officer, Col. Ahmed el-Mansi, and 33 others were wounded in the attack.

Sirens of ambulances were heard from a distance as they rushed to the site of the attack.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Egypt in recent years has been battling a stepped-up insurgency in northern Sinai, mainly by militants from an ISIS group affiliate.

Army spokesman Tamer el-Rifai declined to immediately comment when reached by The Associated Press.

Over the past months, ISIS has focused its attacks on Egypt’s Christian minority and carried out at least four deadly attacks that killed dozens, prompting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare a state of emergency in the country.

Col. Ahmed el-Mansi.