CAIRO, Sept 3 (Aswat Masriya) - Egyptian army killed three "terrorists" who tried to attack a checkpoint in North Sinai's Sheikh Zuwied early on Thursday morning, said the army spokesperson. 

"Three terrorists on a motorbike shot gunfire at a moving army checkpoint as they tried to escape it. The army fired back," the spokesperson said in a statement on its official Facebook page. 

Militant attacks targeting security forces have surged in North Sinai since the ouster of former President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, which followed mass protests against his rule. 

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has changed its name to Sinai Province since pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria,  has claimed responsibility for some of those attacks.

Egyptian authorities say they have killed hundreds of militants in Sinai in security crackdowns.