Egypt’s top prosecutor survived an apparent assassination attempt Monday morning, emerging alive from an explosion near his home in Cairo, the country’s Interior Ministry told CNN.
The blast targeted the prosecutor’s convoy and destroyed several cars in the eastern neighborhood of Heliopolis.
A security official told CNN that Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat suffered a minor chest injury, and that two of his security officers and three other people also were injured. Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar said on state TV that none of the injuries was life-threatening.
Barakat was thought to have suffered a dislocated shoulder and a cut on his nose, Abdel-Ghaffar said.
But there were conflicting reports about Barakat’s condition and the number of people hurt. Initial reports had called Barakat’s injuries grave.
Police said they had as yet no details of the cause of the explosion.
Just before second anniversary of anti-Morsy protests
The apparent assassination attempt came a day before the second anniversary of the mass protests against former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy.
The military removed Morsy from office in July 2013. Since then, security services in the country have imposed a deadly cracked down on members of his group, the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government calls a terrorist organization.
Several groups have claimed responsibility for the numerous attacks that have killed hundreds of police and soldiers over the past two years.
The Sinai-based, ISIS-affiliated State of Sinai — formerly known as Ansar Bait El-Maqdis — has claimed responsibility for the deadliest of these attacks.
‘His life is always threatened’
The Muslim Brotherhood has denied government allegations that it has been responsible for the violence. But in May, the group endorsed a call by clerics to fight the July 2013 coup that overthrew Morsy by all means possible, including retribution against army officers, police officers, judges, journalists and politicians complicit in the killing of innocent civilians.
Over the past several months, militants have targeted judges. In May, three judges were shot dead in North Sinai.
“All Egypt’s judges have been targeted since the trials of terrorist groups and their members began,” Abdalla Fathy, the head of Egypt’s judges’ club, told CNN in May. “But there are specific people that confronted the Muslim Brotherhood regime, and these were the ones initially targeted.”
The Prosecutor General’s Office is responsible for referring all criminal cases, including controversial terrorism and political cases, to court.
“His life is always threatened,” the Prosecutor General’s Office told CNN when asked if specific threats had been made recently.
