SINAI, Sept 28 (Aswat Masriya) – Security forces eliminated 26 "terrorists" in the governorates of North Sinai, Ismailia, Port Said and Daqahliyah during the past week, said Armed Forces Spokesman Mohamed Samir.

The "terrorists" were killed during the crossfire which occurred as security forces raided "terrorist hotbeds," Samir added.

Samir said in a statement released on Sunday that police and armed forces also arrested 84 "terrorists and criminals". 

They also arrested 148 people who were trying to illegally cross into or outside of Egypt from the border governorates of Marsa Matrouh and North Sinai. Those arrested included 137 Egyptians, six Palestinians, four Sudanese and one Syrian national.

Militants in the Sinai Peninsula have stepped up attacks on policemen and soldiers since the military's ouster of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013, which followed mass protests against his rule.

The peninsula has witnessed its most stringent security crackdown in years since Mursi's ouster.

A fact-sheet prepared by Egypt's ministry of foreign affairs put the death toll for terrorism acts which took place since January 2011 and until April 2014 at 971, including 664 security personnel.