Cairo, Sep 8 (IANS): At least 30 militants are believed to have been killed in a raid by the Egyptian army launched on militant hideouts, an official said.

Saturday's raids in the North Sinai governorate bordering Israel targeted 12 villages in Sheikh Zuwaid city, reports Xinhua.

"It is the biggest military campaign in Sinai since the 1973 war," a security source said.

Around 2,500 soldiers and officers from the army, police and central security forces took part in the operation.

Military helicopters carried out several air strikes on suspected militant hideouts, and several houses and weapon warehouses were destroyed.

Three vehicles belonging to the militants were destroyed.

The exact death toll was not clear yet. The official news agency MENA said at least 15 militants were arrested.

Security conditions deteriorated in the Sinai peninsula after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. The army thereafter intensified its operations to eradicate the focal points of terrorists and hardline Jihadist movements.