The leader of the Islamic State's Sinai branch has been killed in an airstrike on a house, according to military officials.

The death toll from a mortar attack on a checkpoint near northern Sinai's provincial capital of el-Arish has risen to 15 policemen.

An Islamic militant attack involving a suicide car bombing and gunmen has targeted a hotel in Egypt’s northern Sinai region, killing seven people, according to reports.

A Russian aircraft carrying 224 people, including 17 children, has crashed in a remote mountainous region in the Sinai Peninsula about 20 minutes after taking off from a Red Sea resort, the Egyptian government said.

Latest Update: 12.50pm