Egypt's state prosecutor died hours after a powerful bomb ripped through his convoy in a Cairo neighborhood on Monday.
This is the first assassination of a top official in the country in a quarter century, marking an apparent escalation by Islamic militants in their campaign of revenge attacks for a 2-year-old crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.
"He has passed away," Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zind told AFP at the hospital where Hisham Barakat had been taken following the morning bombing.
Sources initially stated that a car bomber had rammed into the convoy of Barakat. Later, they said the car bomb apparently detonated remotely. Two civilians and two policemen were also wounded during the blast.
Judges and other officials have increasingly been targeted by Islamist militants opposed to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and angered by hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood; according to The Globe And Mail.
An Egyptian militant group calling itself "Popular Resistance in Giza" claimed responsibility for the attack, however these claims are unable to be verified.
Eyewitnesses said the explosion was strong enough to shatter glass in nearby storefronts and homes. A large plume of black smoke and several smoldering cars were seen near apartment buildings.
The attack on Barakat is the first major assassination attempt on a high government official since the 2013 suicide bombing targeting the then-Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim. Egypt's main Islamic militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis - which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group fighting in Iraq and Syria - has claimed responsibility for that attack, according to the Chicago Tribune.
This wasn't the first time Barakat was involved in a bombing. Earlier this year, Barakat's place of work was also targeted when a bomb exploded near the High Court in central Cairo, killing two people.
