NORTH SINAI, Sept 19 (Aswat Masriya) - Residents in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula said they found a beheaded corpse of a young man on Friday.

The prosecution started its investigation after the corpse was moved to Arish's Public Hospital, a security source from the police told Aswat Masriya.

The residents from a village south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai recogonised the body and said it belonged young tribesman who disappeared over a week ago.

This is the ninth decapitated body to be found in the peninsula in less than two months.

Four other bodies were similarly found 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.