Ten Egyptian soldiers were killed and 17 others were injured in several concurrent attacks by armed groups in southern Sheikh Zuweid City in the northern Sinai on Thursday, the Ma’an news agency reported.

According to the news agency, clashes erupted during the attacks that targeted five military posts in al-Kharruba, Qabr Amir, al-Shallaq, al-Jura and al-Daraib.

During the ambushes, the armed groups fired RPG shells at Egyptian soldiers, leading to many casualties.

Egyptian security sources said that 15 members of the armed groups were killed, and three civilians were injured.

Thursday’s attack held the most casualties in a continuing string of violent insurgency activity that has rocked the Sinai in recent months, noted Ma’an.

Attacks on policemen and military targets began to increase following the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, a jihadist group that is affiliated with ISIS.

Among the attacks claimed by the group since Morsi’s ouster was the assassination of a top Egyptian police general, who was gunned down as he left his home in a west Cairo neighborhood, and a bus bombing on a tour bus filled with South Korean tourists in the Sinai. 

The Egyptian army imposed a curfew on Gaza on October 25, following two deadly attacks in El-Arish, which killed dozens of soldiers and which were also claimed by Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis.

Following the attack, the government decided to create a buffer zone along the border with Gaza, explaining the move was necessary because Hamas terrorists had provided the weapons for the lethal attacks in El-Arish through one of its smuggling tunnels under the border to Sinai.