Fifteen suspected militants were killed during a raid by the Egyptian security forces near al-Arish, the capital of North Sinai province, state news agency MENA and security sources said on Wednesday. The men were suspected of planning attacks on security checkpoints ahead of the 45th anniversary of Egypt’s October 6 1973 war with Israel, the sources and MENA said, quoting an interior ministry statement. The news agency did not identify the suspects nor say whether there had been any casualties or injuries among the security forces. Police seized a number of automatic weapons in the raid on a farm West of al-Arish where the terrorists were hiding, MENA said. The raid comes as the Egyptian army, backed by police, push ahead with a military operation to crush terrorists behind a wave of attacks on civilians and military personnel in Sinai. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the armed forces last November to defeat militants within three months after an attack on a mosque in Sinai killed more than 300 people. In February, Egypt launched a nationwide operation against terrorists. Earlier this week, ISIS said one of its leaders in Sinai has been killed. The groups news agency announced the death of Abu Hamza al-Maqdisi late Monday, calling him a "martyr" without saying where or how he died. Egyptian authorities did not issue a statement on his death.