Cairo, March 19 (IANS): Two Egyptian army officers were killed Wednesday during a raid on militant hideouts near the Nile Delta, the army said.

"An army colonel, who was also a brigadier general, and a bomb disposal expert were shot dead after militants and the army exchanged gunfire in the Arab Sharkas district of al-Qanatir al-Khayriya (a city 30 km north of Cairo),” Xinhua quoted an army spokesman as saying.

"Several tanks carrying explosive materials exploded," he said, adding that six militants were killed during the raid.

Egypt has witnessed an escalation in attacks against security forces since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last July. A recent interior ministry report said 200 soldiers and policemen have been killed in such attacks.

Most of the attacks have taken place in the restive Sinai Peninsula in the north of the country, but lately they have targeted several security headquarters in the capital and Delta cities.

The Sinai-based group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which is reportedly linked to Al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

On Saturday, gunmen stormed a checkpoint in a northern suburb of Cairo, killing at least six soldiers and leaving several others injured.