CAIRO

Nine people were killed in violence in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, according to a local security source.

Two civilians were abducted and slaughtered in North Sinai cities of Rafah and Arish, the source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media. 

According to witnesses, the heads of the two bodies were ripped off. 

In another incident, seven gunmen were killed by army shelling in southern Rafah in the northern Sinai Peninsula. 

The Egyptian army has yet to comment on the report. 

Sinai has remained the epicenter of a deadly militant insurgency since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely-elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader -- was ousted in a military coup. 

Since then, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in militant attacks across the volatile peninsula. 

Egyptian security forces, meanwhile, continue to wage a fierce campaign -- involving elements of both the police and army -- against what they describe as Sinai-based "terrorist groups". 

Reporting by Khalid el-Geyoshi;Writing by Mahmoud Barakat