A court in Egypt has sentenced to death eight Takfiri militants for using violence against the security forces and belonging to groups that incite terrorism, an Egyptian judicial official says.

The unnamed official said on Tuesday that the criminal court in Zagazig condemned the militants “to hang after they were found guilty of belonging to takfiri groups.”

The eight militants were also sentenced for “incitement to terrorism and violence and... incitement to kill members of the army and police,” the official further added.

Of the eight men, five were sentenced in absentia.

Zagazig, a town located in the eastern part of the Nile delta, is the capital of Sharqia governorate.

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, in July 2013, gunmen have launched numerous terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, which has long been considered a safe haven for militants.

Militants from Velayat Sinai, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the region. The group pledged allegiance to the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group last November.

A state of emergency has been declared in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since a militant attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint killed more than 30 soldiers in October 2014.