US television network CBS says Egypt's president has told it in an interview that his country and Israel, with whom it fought four wars, are co-operating against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula.

Excerpts from the interview released by CBS over the weekend also quote President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi as denying there are political prisoners in Egypt, where he has overseen one of the largest crackdowns on dissent in the country's modern history.

CBS, which will air the full interview Sunday on its show "60 Minutes," says it rejected a request by the Egyptian government not to show it.

In the interview, the general-turned-president questioned a recent Human Rights Watch report that Egypt is detaining 60 000 political prisoners, but added that his government must intervene against extremists "regardless of their numbers."