They are the first casualties Egypt has announced from an offensive Cairo launched on February 9.

:: Egypt’s military says three troops, including an officer, were killed in restive Sinai in fighting with militants.

They are the first casualties Egypt has announced from an offensive Cairo launched on February 9.

Military spokesman Tamer al-Rifai said Monday that two other officers and a conscript were wounded in the fighting, part of the sweep aiming to end a years-long insurgency by Islamic militants.

He says four militants were also killed.

The operation covers north and central Sinai and parts of Egypt’s Nile Delta and the Western Desert, along the porous border with Libya. It involves land, sea and air forces, and the army claims to have destroyed hundreds of targets and killed dozens of fighters.

The army’s figures cannot be independently confirmed as journalists are banned from the area.