(AP) -- Army spokesman Col. Tamer el-Rifaai said on Sunday that vehicles, weapons caches, communications centers and illegal opium fields were targeted in the sweep.

The operation, which targets "terrorist and criminal elements and organizations," started on Friday and involves army and police forces. It covers north and central Sinai, the Nile Delta and the Western Desert along the porous border with Libya.

Militant attacks increased dramatically in Egypt since the military's 2013 ouster of elected President Mohammed Morsi. Violence has been concentrated in north Sinai, but has also spread to the mainland.

(Photo: via AP)