Egypt's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat has died from injuries sustained in a bomb attack in Cairo, medical sources confirmed to Ahram Online.
It is the first successful assassination attempt against a state official since an upswing in violence following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
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.
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.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar after the attack, where he reported the situation to the president.
El-Sisi urged the ministry to tighten security measures and find the perpetrators of the attack.
Islamist militants, who have primarily targeted security forces since the removal of Morsi, have also attacked several judges.
In May, three judges and their driver were killed when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the North Sinai city of Al-Arish.
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.
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.
Supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood accuse Egypt's judiciary of issuing politicised sentences, including against the group's supreme guide Mohamed Badie and former president Mohamed Morsi. Both were among tens of the now banned group's members who have been sentenced to death during the past year.
Barakat was appointed Egypt's top prosecutor in July 2013 following the resignation of Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud.
