Egypt´s army declared military operations that killed 20 militants in a raid using helicopter gun ships to be a "complete success" after the first Egyptian air strikes in Sinai for 40 years.

The attacks around the town of Sheikh Zuwaid, six miles from the Gaza Strip is the first time the Egyptian military has used air power in the contested border region with Israel since the Yom Kippur war in 1973.

The military operation came as Egypt masses troops near the Rafah border town, on its Sinai frontier with Israel, for a decisive confrontation with the militants.

A senior Egyptian military official in Sinai, said “20 terrorists were killed” in Apache helicopter air strikes and when soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Division stormed the village of al-Toumah, near Sheikh Zuwaid.

"Elements from the armed forces and interior ministry supported by the air force began a plan to restore security by pursuing and targeting armed terrorist elements in Sinai, and it has accomplished this task with complete success," said an army statement.

Egyptian state news agency MENA gave an account of how the Islamist militants were killed.

"Terrorist elements fired rockets and shells and heavy machine guns at the aircraft combing the area, but did not hit the aircraft, and ground forces then dealt with them and killed a number of them," it reported.

The use of air power marked a sharp escalation in Egypt´s fight against Islamic militants who have become increasingly active in the mountainous, desert peninsula bordering Israel and Gaza.

Islamist gunmen killed 16 border guards on Sunday in the bloodiest attack on Egyptian security forces in recent times.

The insurgents seized two armoured vehicles to storm through the border into Israel, where they were eventually killed by Israeli fire. The air strikes came a day after the military held a funeral for the 16 soldiers killed on Sunday´s attack by militants amid widespread calls for vengeance.

Security forces had raided homes on Tuesday in search of suspects in the attack, as they prepared to close tunnels to the Palestinian Gaza Strip used to smuggle weapons and militants as well as food and other supplies.

Israel has handed over to Egypt six "completely charred" bodies that were in the terrorist armoured personnel carrier that was driven into Israel after attacking Egyptian soldiers before being destroyed. The bodies have not yet been identified. But security officials blame Bedouin militants and Palestinian Islamists from Gaza for the attack.

Sunday´s bloodshed highlighted the government´s tenuous grip on the Sinai Peninsula, from where Islamist militants have launched several rocket attacks on Israel and a deadly cross border raid last year.

It also presents a challenge to Egypt´s new Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood has good relations with the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.

President Morsi did not attend the funeral, where some protesters chanted slogans against the Brotherhood, and according to witnesses, tried to assault the Islamist Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.

His spokesman said in a statement that MMr orsi did not attend because the security measures needed to guard the president would have impinged on the "popular character" of the ceremony.

Following Sunday´s attack, Egypt closed until further notice its Rafah crossing with Gaza, the Palestinian territory´s only access to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel.

Israel says it has agreed in the past to Egyptian requests to bring more troops into Sinai and the terms of the treaty are no obstacle to combating militants threatening both countries.

“What we see in Egypt is a strong fury, a determination of the regime and the army to take care of it and impose order in Sinai because that is their responsibility,” senior Israeli defence official Amos Gilad said on Israel Radio on Wednesday.

“This is an Egyptian action that is being handled by the Egyptians on the basis of the information they have,” he said. “If they don´t remove and uproot (the threat), it will continue to strike.” Sources: AFP, AP and Reuters (© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2012. 08/09/12)