Egypt’s state prosecutor dies following bomb attack

State media confirmed the death of Barakat, 64, at a hospital in the residential district of Heliopolis where he had undergone surgery hours earlier, and said he would receive a military funeral.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday attended the funeral of Egypt’s top public prosecutor killed by a vehicle bomb on the previous day, and said he would within days reveal legal reforms that would allow a tougher line against militants.

Monday’s assassination of the 65-year-old Barakat came on the eve of the second anniversary of the mass demonstrations against Morsi that led to his ouster.

A bomb attack in a busy upscale Cairo suburb targeted the convoy of Egypt’s prosecutor general on Monday morning, a security official said.

The BBC reported that Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate had called for attacks on the judiciary, in response to the hanging of six militants, though the group has not claimed credit for Barakat’s assassination. Two of his guards and five other people were injured, officials said. Hisham Barakat had handled numerous high-profile against anti-government activists of the years.

The bomb exploded as he left his home in the neighbourhood of Heliopolis for his office.

Earlier this month, Morsi himself and other top Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to hang for their alleged role in jailbreaks during the 2011 uprising against dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Over the past year, militants have launched a series of attacks targeting Egypt’s judges and prosecutors.

But rather than Islamic State, an obscure group known as “Giza Popular Resistance” claimed initial credit for the attack on its Facebook page. It said it had planted an explosive device placed under Barakat’s auto.

“This heinous attack will not break the unity of Egyptians”, Sisi said, adding that the army, police and judges were sacrificing their lives for Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood has denied government allegations that it has been responsible for the violence.

Footage from the scene of the blast showed cars charred and wrecked from the explosion, as black smoke rose from the site.

The state news agency MENA said the bomb blast also wounded at least nine other people including police and civilians.

Judicial sources told Reuters any amendments could also restrict the number of appeals to one from two and give judges final say on which witnesses could testify. Judges have sentenced hundreds to death – including former President Mohammed Morsi – in what the rights group Amnesty global has denounced as “sham trials”.

In May, three judges and their driver were killed when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the North Sinai city of Al-Arish. If a death sentence is passed, it will be implemented.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the Sinai-based organisation that later pledged allegiance to Isis, claimed responsibility for that attack.