Islamic State (ISIL) terrorists have launched an unprecedented wave of attacks on Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 70.

The jihadists launched simultaneous attacks against at least five military checkpoints in the region, one with a powerful car bomb, on Wednesday morning.

“It’s war. The battle is ongoing,” a senior military official told the media.

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So intense was the fighting, battle helicopters rather than ambulances were needed to evacuate casualties.

Egypt already lost its senior prosecutor to a car bomb. Photo: AAP

The attacks reportedly took place in Sheikh Zuweid, east of the provincial capital El-Arish, where a car bomb, mortar shells and rocket propelled grenades were used.

The ISIL group, or Daesh, claimed responsibility for the “blessed raid” against the “apostate army” in an online statement.

Israel, which the terror group had sworn to utterly destroy, responded with deep concern. It shares a border in the Sinai peninsula with Egypt.

“We see ISIS at the gates,” warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The attack came two days after Egypt’s state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed in a Cairo suicide attack.

The current Egyptian government led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is composed of moderate Muslims, hence their denunciation by ISIL as ‘apostates’.

-with AAP