A wave of attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula claimed by the Islamic State group has killed at least 15 soldiers, with the toll expected to rise with troops fighting a running battle with militants.
The jihadists launched simultaneous attacks against military checkpoints in the region, one with a powerful car bomb, the authorities said on Wednesday.
"It's war. The battle is ongoing," a senior military official told AFP.
Other security and medical officials said ambulances could not get to the scene of the attacks because of heavy fighting in which the military brought in Apache helicopters.
"Ambulances are waiting in front of the hospital. They can't leave. People are bring in the casualties," a health official said.
At least 15 soldiers have been confirmed dead, they said.
Troops regularly come under attack in the Sinai, where jihadists linked to the Islamic State group are waging a bloody insurgency.
Security officials said the attacks took place in Sheikh Zuweid, east of the provincial capital El-Arish where a car bomb, mortar shells, and rocket propelled grenades were used.
A security official said the militants had mined the exits from the Sheikh Zuweid police station to block reinforcements.
In a statement released online, IS said it carried out the multi-pronged assault.
"In a blessed raid enabled by God, the lions of the caliphate have simultaneously attacked more than 15 checkpoints belonging to the apostate army," the group said.
It said the attacks involved three suicide bombers.
It came two days after the country's state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed in a Cairo bombing targeting his convoy.
Barakat was the most senior government official killed since jihadists launched an insurgency following the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
