Egypt's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat died from injuries sustained in a Cairo bomb attack on Monday, the first successful assassination attempt against a state official since an upswing in violence following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Barakat suffered ruptures to the nose and left shoulder, and internal bleeding in the lungs and stomach, health ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar told Ahram Online. He had been taken to the operating room at Al-Nozha hospital in Heliopolis, where he succumbed to his injuries hours after the attack.
Nine people, including two drivers, one civilian and five members of the security forces, were injured when a bomb hit the prosecutor's convoy near the military academy in Heliopolis, Abdel-Ghaffar said. The blast damaged the fronts of nine houses and destroyed 31 vehicles, four of which were torched, a security source told state news agency MENA.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar right after the attack. El-Sisi urged the ministry to tighten security measures and find the perpetrators.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Earlier on Monday, the Islamic State-affiliated jihadist group Sinai Province, previously known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis before proclaiming allegiance to IS, released a video that shows their attack on judges in North Sinai's Al-Arish in May. A title at the bottom of the screen reads "Assassination of five of the tyrant's judges."
The IS-affiliated Sinai Province claimed responsibility for a number of large-scale militant attacks across Egypt, including the first assassination attempt against a state official, which former Egypt interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim escaped unscathed in September 2013. The bomb attack on Ibrahim in Cairo left one civilian dead and 21 injured, including six policemen and a child.
Islamist militants, who have primarily targeted security forces since the removal of Morsi over the past two years, have more recently targeted several judges amid the conviction of many supporters of Morsi in terror-related cases. In January, a bomb attack targeting judge Khaled Mahgoub, who is acting for the general prosecution in Morsi's jailbreak trial, caused damage to the windows and walls of his house.
In March, a small bomb was left in front of the house of judge Fathi Bayoumi, who investigated the corruption charges against Mubarak-era interior minister Habib El-Adly. The words "a gift for El-Adly’s acquittal" were scribbled on a wall near the attack.
Supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood accuse Egypt's judiciary of issuing politicised sentences, including against the group's supreme guide Mohamed Badie and Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood. Both were among tens of the now banned group's members who have been sentenced to death during the past year.
The 65-year-old Prosecutor Barakat was sworn in as Egypt's top prosecutor under the rule of interim president Adly Mansour in July 2013 following the resignation of Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud. He was due to keep his position until 2020.
Barakat referred thousands of pro-Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Islamists to court on various charges including belonging to the Brotherhood as well as terror-related acts. Hundreds were sentenced to life in prison and death as a result.
