Sinai - Airstrikes in northern Sinai have killed 19 members of Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit El-Maqdis, including one of its prominent leaders, the Egyptian military said on Thursday. In an official statement, army spokesman Tamer El-Refaie said the army's air forces conducted strikes in those governorates, killing 19 militants including one of the group's top leaders. According to the statement, the leader was the head of the group's Sharia Committee and responsible for interrogations. The army has not publicly identified the leader, but said that 11 of those killed were members of the group's branches in Nile Delta governorates. Egypt's army and police forces have been waging a war against Islamist insurgents in North Sinai for years, with hundreds of security personnel killed, as well as hundreds of militants killed in security campaigns.