Cairo bomb wounds Egypt state prosecutor
CAIRO - Agence France-Presse
Forensic detectives gather at the site of a bomb that targeted the convoy of the Egyptian state prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, in the capital Cairo on June 29, 2015. AFP Photos
Egypt's state prosecutor was wounded when a powerful bomb hit his convoy in the capital on June 29, officials said, after jihadists urged attacks on the judiciary to punish a crackdown on Islamists.
The bomb destroyed several cars and blew out storefront windows in the upscale district of Heliopolis. At least five vehicles were completely gutted in the explosion.
There were specks of blood on the street.
The prosecutor Hisham Barakat was taken to hospital with a dislocated shoulder and a cut to his nose, a health ministry official told the state MENA news agency.
At the hospital, a bruised bodyguard recounted to prosecutors how the blast hit Barakat's convoy as it headed to his office.
"There was a massive blast all of a sudden," he said, in the presence of an AFP journalist. "There was glass flying everywhere. It was as if there was an earthquake."
Witnesses at the scene of the blast said one of the charred vehicles had belonged to prosecutor.
"I heard a loud explosion and ran to the site. Barakat's car was on fire," said one, Shaama Abdel Fattah.
Bomb squad chief General Mohamed Gamal told AFP it was either a car bomb or a bomb concealed underneath a vehicle.
The bombing came after the Islamic Stateof Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) affiliate in Egypt called for attacks on the judiciary following the hanging of six alleged militants.
Gunmen in the Sinai peninsula, where the jihadists are based, had shot dead two judges and a prosecutor in May.
The group released a video on June 28 purporting to show that attack in the north Sinai city of El-Arish. Gunmen in a car pulled up to the van transporting the judges and sprayed it with rifle fire.
Barakat has referred thousands of Islamists to trial since the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, with hundreds then sentenced to death.
The June 29 attack was the most brazen against a senior official in Cairo since jihadists tried to assassinate the then interior minister in a suicide car bombing in late 2013.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the Sinai-based organisation that later pledged allegiance to ISIL, claimed responsibility for that attack.
In May, the group called for attacks on judges in an audio message posted online.
The recording came after authorities hanged six men convicted of participating in militant attacks.
"By God, we will seek vengeance for our brothers and others like them, from the party that sentenced them, and the party that implemented the sentence," the jihadist group said in the recording.
The militants have killed scores of policemen and soldiers in attacks since Morsi's overthrow, mostly in the Sinai peninsula.
The group carried out several high profile attacks in Cairo and the Nile valley in 2013 and 2014 before police killed or arrested its members in those areas.
The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief toppled Morsi, has blamed his Muslim Brotherhood movement for the violence.
Sisi has pledged to eradicate the group, once the largest political movement in Egypt.
At least 1,400 people, mostly Islamist supporters, have been killed in a police crackdown on protests, and much of the Brotherhood's leadership has been arrested.
Courts have sentenced hundreds to death, including Morsi himself, who was convicted of involvement in attacks on police stations.
Morsi's sentence is being appealed.
The bomb destroyed several cars and blew out storefront windows in the upscale district of Heliopolis. At least five vehicles were completely gutted in the explosion.
There were specks of blood on the street.
DHA Photo
At the hospital, a bruised bodyguard recounted to prosecutors how the blast hit Barakat's convoy as it headed to his office.
"There was a massive blast all of a sudden," he said, in the presence of an AFP journalist. "There was glass flying everywhere. It was as if there was an earthquake."
Witnesses at the scene of the blast said one of the charred vehicles had belonged to prosecutor.
"I heard a loud explosion and ran to the site. Barakat's car was on fire," said one, Shaama Abdel Fattah.
Bomb squad chief General Mohamed Gamal told AFP it was either a car bomb or a bomb concealed underneath a vehicle.
The bombing came after the Islamic Stateof Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) affiliate in Egypt called for attacks on the judiciary following the hanging of six alleged militants.
Gunmen in the Sinai peninsula, where the jihadists are based, had shot dead two judges and a prosecutor in May.
The group released a video on June 28 purporting to show that attack in the north Sinai city of El-Arish. Gunmen in a car pulled up to the van transporting the judges and sprayed it with rifle fire.
Barakat has referred thousands of Islamists to trial since the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, with hundreds then sentenced to death.
The June 29 attack was the most brazen against a senior official in Cairo since jihadists tried to assassinate the then interior minister in a suicide car bombing in late 2013.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the Sinai-based organisation that later pledged allegiance to ISIL, claimed responsibility for that attack.
In May, the group called for attacks on judges in an audio message posted online.
The recording came after authorities hanged six men convicted of participating in militant attacks.
"By God, we will seek vengeance for our brothers and others like them, from the party that sentenced them, and the party that implemented the sentence," the jihadist group said in the recording.
The militants have killed scores of policemen and soldiers in attacks since Morsi's overthrow, mostly in the Sinai peninsula.
The group carried out several high profile attacks in Cairo and the Nile valley in 2013 and 2014 before police killed or arrested its members in those areas.
The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief toppled Morsi, has blamed his Muslim Brotherhood movement for the violence.
Sisi has pledged to eradicate the group, once the largest political movement in Egypt.
At least 1,400 people, mostly Islamist supporters, have been killed in a police crackdown on protests, and much of the Brotherhood's leadership has been arrested.
Courts have sentenced hundreds to death, including Morsi himself, who was convicted of involvement in attacks on police stations.
Morsi's sentence is being appealed.
