Egypts military said Monday that four troops and 36 militants have died in the past five days of fighting in the restive Sinai Peninsula. The statement said one officer was among the four killed army personnel. It also said that eight soldiers were wounded, including two officers. Security forces "eliminated 30 armed takfiri elements during a shootout with raiding forces" in the northern and central Sinai Peninsula, the statement said. A police shootout also left six "takfiri elements" dead and destroyed "an extremely dangerous terrorist cell", it added. Over the past five days, soldiers also arrested 345 people "including a number of extremely dangerous takfiri elements and fugitives," the military stated. It said they also destroyed 400 hideouts, munition and weapons depots and dismantled 93 explosive devices during the operation. Since Egypt launched the wide-scale operation more than a month ago, 20 troops have been killed. Egypt has been battling militants for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after 2013.