CAIRO, Dec 12 (Aswat Masriya) - Six "extremists" were killed and eight others were injured on Friday in a military aerial bombardment over North Sinai's towns of Sheikh Zuweid and al-Arish, police sources said.

Apache helicopters targeted a house South of Sheikh Zuweid that sheltered a number of "extremists", who were planning an attack against security forces. Helicopters also shelled a hotbed in Arish.

At least 30 military personnel were killed in a suicide blast which targeted a security checkpoint in Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid on October 24, in the worst militant attack since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last year. 

Shortly afterwards, a separate attack by unidentified gunmen on a security checkpoint in al-Arish killed three more security personnel.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency and a nighttime curfew in parts of the Sinai Peninsula in response to the deadly attacks.

Militants have stepped up attacks targeting security forces in Egypt, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, since the army's ouster of President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, which followed mass protests against his rule.

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.