Egyptian state prosector dead in bombing

Egypt’s state prosecutor has died of wounds sustained in a bomb attack on his convoy in a Cairo suburb.

Official news agency Mena said 65-year-old Hisham Barakat died in a Cairo hospital after undergoing surgery.

He is the top Egyptian official to be assassinated since the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was ousted two years ago.

Hours earlier, an explosion had ripped through Mr Barakat’s convoy in the busy eastern suburb of Heliopolis as he was driving to his office.

The attack came as Egyptian security forces were already on high alert on the eve of the second anniversary of massive anti-Islamist demonstrations that paved the way, days later, for the military’s removal of Morsi.