NORTH SINAI, Sept 27 (Aswat Masriya) – A kidnapped young man was found shot dead on Friday after five days of absence in North Sinai, a security source said.

The security source added to Aswat Masriya that the 27 year-old man belongs to a prominent tribe within North Sinai. The assailants who abducted him are yet to be identified.

North Sinai residents have found nine decapitated bodies in the peninsula in less than two months. 

Four beheaded bodies were found together in August. The Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militant group then claimed responsibility for their beheading for providing Israel with intelligence in a video they released. 

The group also warned Sinai residents against "cooperating with the Jews and spying on their fellow Muslims", urging those involved to repent to be pardoned. 

Militants in the Sinai 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.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks in Cairo and Sinai, including an attempt on Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim's life last September.

According to the government, nearly 500 people, mostly security personnel, were killed in armed attacks and bombings in the Sinai Peninsula and other cities.

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