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White House condemns Cairo attack that killed Egyptian prosecutor

The Egyptian state news agency Mena said that he had died after undergoing critical surgery.

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Moruners gathered in a military funeral on Tuesday to lay to rest Egypt’s slain top prosecutor Hisham Barakat, who was killed in a vehicle bomb in Cairo a day earlier, amid an outpouring of condemnations.

The attack was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the proclamation of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq under Islamic State (IS) commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the the second anniversary of the June 30th, 2013, mass protests in Egypt that toppled Mr Morsi. At a ceremony attended by senior government and religious officials and members of Barakat’s family, Sisi said the militant threat in Egypt demanded urgent legal reforms.

The attack took place around 10am when a auto packed with explosives was detonated by a remote control as Barakat’s motorcade passed through the eastern Cairo district of Heliopolis, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities have blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, for much of the militancy and have launched a massive crackdown on the Islamists.

Egyptian media – virtually all pro-Sisi – want vengance for a bomb attack that killed the state pr …

Police said they had no details yet on the cause of the explosion.

ISIL’s affiliate in Egypt had called for attacks on the judiciary following the hanging of six alleged militants. Several groups with the Popular Resistance name have claimed responsibility for smaller attacks, mainly targeting the police and power stations.

The Muslim Brotherhood has denied any link to recent militant bloodshed, reiterating what it calls a long commitment to non-violence.

The country has since sentenced Morsi, and hundred of his supporters, to death, in mass trials that have been condemned by rights groups.

El-Sissi said he would free the judiciary’s hand in a “battle”, adding that the country is ready for it. He spoke at the funeral for Hisham Barakat, the top judicial official overseeing the prosecution of thousands of Islamists, including the ex- president, Mohammed Morsi. The explosion ripped through the two vehicles, sending a plume of thick black smoke into the air and shattering windows in several high-rise buildings. Although the group is not well known, it has taken responsibility for past attacks on banks and restaurants in Cairo.

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.

Last month, gunmen shot dead at least two judges and a prosecutor in the northern Sinai city of el-Arish. Morsi himself has been sentenced to death.

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In the country’s restive Sinai Peninsula, a faction pledging loyalty to the Islamic State assassinated three judges in May after opening fire on their passenger bus.

Assassination of state prosecutor rocks Egypt
    
    
                
          
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