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| Egypt's chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat killed by Cairo bomb | Egypt's chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat killed by Cairo bomb |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| One of the architects of Egypt’s crackdown on dissent was killed by a car bomb on Monday after militants targeted his convoy in what was the country’s highest-profile assassination in nearly two years. | One of the architects of Egypt’s crackdown on dissent was killed by a car bomb on Monday after militants targeted his convoy in what was the country’s highest-profile assassination in nearly two years. |
| Egypt’s chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was taken to hospital on Monday after the car bomb exploded as he passed an army college in a well-to-do suburb of north-eastern Cairo. State television later reported he had died. | Egypt’s chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was taken to hospital on Monday after the car bomb exploded as he passed an army college in a well-to-do suburb of north-eastern Cairo. State television later reported he had died. |
| Two of Barakat’s bodyguards were wounded, as well as a passerby. Photographs from the incident showed plumes of black smoke rising from a layby filled with parked cars. | Two of Barakat’s bodyguards were wounded, as well as a passerby. Photographs from the incident showed plumes of black smoke rising from a layby filled with parked cars. |
| Mohamed Gamal, the chief of the bomb squad, told Agence France-Presse it was either a car bomb or a bomb concealed underneath a vehicle. The bombing came after the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Egypt called for attacks on the judiciary following the hanging of six alleged militants. | Mohamed Gamal, the chief of the bomb squad, told Agence France-Presse it was either a car bomb or a bomb concealed underneath a vehicle. The bombing came after the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Egypt called for attacks on the judiciary following the hanging of six alleged militants. |
| Hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been killed in a low-level insurgency that has raged since the overthrow of ex-president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. But Barakat is the first major government figure to be targeted since a failed attempt to kill the former interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, in September 2013. | |
| That attack was carried out by a Sinai-based jihadi movement that later declared allegiance to Isis, whereas Monday’s bomb was attributed to a less active Cairo-based group called Giza Popular Resistance, after the group claimed responsibility on its Facebook page. The claim could not be confirmed. | |
| The timing of Monday’s attack has added symbolism, since it comes one day short of the second anniversary of protests that both hastened the fall of Morsi, and then brought Barakat to office. Many Egyptians support the direction Barakat subsequently took. | The timing of Monday’s attack has added symbolism, since it comes one day short of the second anniversary of protests that both hastened the fall of Morsi, and then brought Barakat to office. Many Egyptians support the direction Barakat subsequently took. |
| But he was a figure of hate for Egypt’s opposition because he has, as chief prosecutor, enabled the detention of tens of thousands of government critics. Among the many controversial prosecutions Barakat has pursued, several have resulted in death sentences for hundreds of alleged supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Rights campaigners also accused Barakat of bowing to police pressure to prolong the pre-trial detention of dissidents, even when there is little evidence. | But he was a figure of hate for Egypt’s opposition because he has, as chief prosecutor, enabled the detention of tens of thousands of government critics. Among the many controversial prosecutions Barakat has pursued, several have resulted in death sentences for hundreds of alleged supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Rights campaigners also accused Barakat of bowing to police pressure to prolong the pre-trial detention of dissidents, even when there is little evidence. |