At least 98 Daesh-linked Takfiri militants have been killed in an ongoing operation by the Egyptian army in the North African country’s violence-plagued Sinai Peninsula, Press TV reports.

Four Egyptian soldiers lost their lives and seven others sustained injuries during the Friday operation, the army said in a statement, adding that seven civilians were also killed as a result of the confrontations between military forces and the militants.

According to the statement, the killed militants were members of a local terror group which calls itself Velayat Sinai (Sinai Province), previously known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.

Velayat Sinai, which pledged allegiance to Daesh in November 2014, has been behind many of the attacks that have killed many Egyptian police officers, soldiers, and judiciary officials as well as civilians over the past months.

The army launched the operation on Monday around the North Sinai towns of Sheikh Zuweid, el-Arish, and Rafah. At least 232 militants have been slain in the past few days.

The militants have carried out several attacks in major Egyptian cities in the past few months. Cairo has been battling militants in Sinai for years now, but attacks mainly targeting the army and police have escalated and spread to the mainland since last year.

The Egyptian army views the Sinai Peninsula as a sanctuary for extremists, who use the volatile region as a safe haven.