The Egyptian army on Monday announced it had killed an “armed militant” -- while arresting 18 others -- in the volatile Sinai Peninsula.

Axar.az reports citing AA that in a statement, army spokesman Tamer Refai said army forces had “eliminated a Takfiri [extremist] leader” in central Sinai and arrested 18 of his companions.

Several militant “hideouts”, including a number of fuel depots, were destroyed in the same operation, Refai added.

The spokesman’s assertions, however, have yet to be independently verified.

Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicenter of a deadly militant insurgency since Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president, was ousted and imprisoned in a 2013 military coup.