Egyptian police have clashed with armed men in the Sinai peninsula, a day after military airstrikes killed 20 suspected militants in the area.

State television said the fighting resumed Thursday outside a police station in El-Arish, about 50 kilometers from the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi fired his intelligence chief and the governor of North Sinai on Wednesday in a major reorganization. The military said it carried out its operation Wednesday to restore peace and regain control after an increase in lawlessness following the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak.

Militants launched a bloody attack on the army Sunday, killing 16 Egyptian border guards.