Cairo: At least 48 militants were killed in the fourth day of a massive anti-terrorism operation by the Egyptian security forces in North Sinai, military spokesman Mohamed Samir said in a statement on Thursday.

In the first three days of the operation that started on Monday early morning, the forces killed 86 and arrested around 200 suspects in North Sinai’s towns of Rafah, Sheikh Zuweid and Arish, Xinhua reported.

The death toll of militants has risen to 134 so far since the operation started, while a military officer and a soldier were also killed during the operation.

Egypt has been suffering from armed anti-government attacks that killed hundreds of police and army men since the military removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests.

Later crackdown on Morsi’s supporters left more than 1,000 dead and thousands more arrested.

On August 20, a car bomb explosion targeting a national security building in Qalioubiya province near the capital Cairo left at least 29 people injured.

The country’s prosecutor general was also assassinated in a car bomb in late June.

Most of the anti-government attacks were claimed by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which has changed its name to ‘Sinai State’ and declared loyalty to the Islamic State (IS) regional militant group.

Continuous massive military operations in the peninsula have killed hundreds of militants as part of the country’s ‘war against terrorism’.