CAIRO, Feb 14 (Aswat Masriya) – Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi inspected security forces in North Sinai on Saturday afternoon.

Egypt has been carrying out intensified efforts to fight militancy, which has surged since July 2013.

While the Sinai Peninsula is the part of the country most heavily affected by militancy, deadly attacks have taken place in other parts including Cairo. The majority of attacks have targeted security personnel.

The prime minister and ministers toured police and military forces during their inspection.

Accodring to statements made to Aswat Masriya the tour was was attended by Osama Askar, who was recently promoted to lieutenant general and commander of a newly established unit to combat "terrorism" east of the Suez Canal.   

The top officials' visit to the restive part of the peninsula comes hours after an attempted suicide operation in North Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid city, early this morning. Police and military forces together foiled the planned operation, leaving two attackers dead while several others were injured in the process.

While the northern part of Sinai is where most attacks take place, incidents have taken place in centre and southern parts of the peninsula, including one today when a soldier was shot in the head by armed assailants.

The 24-year-old soldier was standing at a security site at the time of the incident and has been hospitalised.   

In January, attacks on the same day against four security installations in North Sinai left over 30 people dead, in one of the deadliest attacks since an attack in October which left over 30 military personnel dead.  

Following the attack last month, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi established a unified command to combat "terrorism" east of the Suez Canal.

The same militant group has pledged responsibility for both the January and October attacks, the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.

Ansar pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria and renamed itself as the "Sinai Province" in a video released in November 2014, after Islamic State fighters gained control over large areas of Iraq and Syria over the summer of 2014.  

On January 21, the group pledged to continue attacks on Egypt's security personnel, in a video posted by a Twitter account attributed to the group.  

The group was designated as a "Foreign Terrorist Organisation" by the United States Department of State in April 2014. Within days, a Cairo court designated it as a terrorist organisation as well.