El-SHEIKH ZWAYYED, Sinai — The Sinai Peninsula has witnessed a significant surge in attacks by armed militants targeting military security facilities in El-Arish and elsewhere over the past month, raising concerns over the effectiveness and methods of Egypt's military campaign in the region and its attempt to keep strict control of the message.

Egypt's military said the attacks in El-Arish were in retaliation for the detention of a number of suspected militants on Sept. 16. The violence followed dozens of armed jihadists attacking the peacekeeping mission base at El-Gora, a town 37 kilometers southeast of El-Arish, two days earlier.

A Sinai armed group named the Salafist Jihadist Group took responsibility for the El-Gora attack, saying it was in reaction to an American-made video insulting the Prophet Muhammad — that also triggered violent protests across the Middle East and North Africa last week. The group also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Egyptian military Sept. 16 during its raid on the village of Al-Muqataa, near the border with Gaza. Two armored vehicles were destroyed and a helicopter’s surveillance camera was damaged during that attack.

“[The attacks were] a reaction to the military’s inhuman terrorizing innocent civilians,” the group said in an online statement.

Egyptian military officials say they are in control of the situation.

“Air Force units continue to track down and follow the movement of criminal elements in preparation for further raids by military and police forces,” said Col. Ahmed Ali, Egypt’s newly appointed military spokesman who said one soldier was killed and six injured in the attacks.

Even so, the official statement failed to give a clear assessment of where the military campaign stands but emphasized that “media outlets should refrain from publishing any information but official statements.”