Six Islamic militant suspects killed in a stand-off with police were planning to attack officers in Indonesia's East Java province in revenge for the arrest of a radical leader, authorities have said.

Dozens of Islamic militants unleashed a wave of simultaneous attacks, including suicide car bombs, on Egyptian army checkpoints in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula yesterday, killing at least 53 soldiers.

The Kenyan military says it has launched air strikes against Islamic militants in Somalia following an extremist attack on a college that killed 148 people.