Militants attacked Egyptian troops with an explosive-rigged vehicle and fired heavy weapons installed on pick-up trucks, before military reinforcements fought them off.
The Sinai Peninsula has been a hotbed of militancy for years but security forces also face accusations of human rights abuses.
"Amid ongoing efforts in pursuing and defeating terrorist elements ... during the previous period, the armed forces ... carried out operations that killed 89 dangerous takfiris (militants) ... in northern Sinai," the army spokesperson says.
The 1967 Six-Day War exposed Israel's colonial mindset as it occupied the neighbouring Arab lands while unleashing violence on Palestinians, which continues to date.
While Daesh continues to thrive in north Sinai, the Sisi government has waged a far greater war against ordinary Egyptians to snuff out any opposition to its rule.
According to security and medical officials, the security forces were patrolling in the town of Bir al Abd when their armoured vehicle was hit by a remotely-detonated bomb.
Egypt is sounding the drums of war in Libya, but any military incursion faces daunting military and political obstacles.
Egypt has numbers but it can't sustain a war, even with the help of Gulf funding.
The late Mohamed Morsi's rise to power represented an end to Egypt's kleptocratic free-for-all.
Cairo has been reduced to a mere observer in the Libyan conflict as Turkish drones in the service of the UN-recognised Tripoli government alter the battleground equation.
Arab states carefully deny any meaningful ties to Israel, but reality is surprisingly different.
While the attack on the pipeline was one the first in many years, its timing suggests that security concerns underline any energy agreement.
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