The Egyptian military has killed eight militants and wounded 15 others in airstrikes in the restive Sinai Peninsula, where the Army has been battling insurgents over the past months.

The ongoing strikes were launched on Tuesday morning near the Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian Gaza Strip, AFP cited security sources as saying.

Witnesses said "Apache helicopters" have bombed several villages in south of Rafah when the operation began at around 9:00 a.m. (0700 GMT).

Officials said the operation, the "biggest aerial assault of its kind in Sinai," was to weed out militants holed up in the area.

Militants have launched near-daily attacks on police and army facilities in Sinai, which has long been considered as a safe haven for terrorists.

On August 19, militants killed 25 Egyptian police in an attack on two buses heading towards Rafah in the deadliest attack of its kind in years.

In response, Cairo launched an offensive against Sinai terrorists, sending thousands of troops backed by tanks and heavy military equipment into the region.

Clashes between militants and security forces have intensified in Sinai since the July 3 ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, which plunged Egypt into a deadly trumoil.