Cairo, Oct 2 (IANS): At least five police conscripts were shot dead on Saturday by unidentified gunmen in Arish city of Egypt's restive North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said.

The ministry's statement said the five recruits were on their way back from vacation to their police central security department when the assailants stopped their vehicle and gunned them down.

The conscripts' ages varied between 21 and 23 and their bodies were moved to nearby Arish hospital body refrigerator, Xinhua reported.

Egypt has been facing a growing wave of terrorism since the military removed former President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and launched a massive security crackdown on his loyalists, leaving about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

Anti-government terror activities killed hundreds of police and military men in the Sinai Peninsula and other provinces over the past three years, with a Sinai-based militant group loyal to the Islamic State claiming responsibility for most of them.