Under heavy security, Egypt to hold funeral for chief prosecutor assassinated in car bombing

Published December 05, 2015

An ambulance carrying the body of Egypt's slain chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat is surrounded by policemen and mourners moving to his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Barakat was killed by a car bomb on Monday in the country's first assassination of a senior official in 25 years, marking what could be an escalation in a campaign by Islamic militants toward targeting leaders of a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (The Associated Press)

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The widow of Egypt's slain chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat receives condolences from mourners who wait to take his body to his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Barakat was killed by a car bomb on Monday in the country's first assassination of a senior official in 25 years, marking what could be an escalation in a campaign by Islamic militants toward targeting leaders of a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (The Associated Press)

A bomb-sniffing dog works at the the hospital where Egypt's slain Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat's body will move before his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Barakat was killed by a car bomb on Monday in the country's first assassination of a senior official in 25 years, marking what could be an escalation in a campaign by Islamic militants toward targeting leaders of a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (The Associated Press)

Egypt has deployed heavy security forces across Cairo amid preparations for the burial of the country's prosecutor general, killed in a car bombing the day before — the first assassination of a top Egyptian official in nearly 25 years.

The body of Hisham Barakat, the top judicial official in charge of overseeing prosecution of thousands of Islamists, was taken on Tuesday from the hospital to a mosque in the eastern suburb of Heliopolis for noon prayers.

Armored personnel carriers were positioned across the city. At the hospital in Heliopolis, mourners came to express condolences to Barakat's widow.

Authorities have declared June 30 a national holiday to mark the second anniversary of the mass street protests that led to the ouster of the country's Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, under the military.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/under-heavy-security-egypt-to-hold-funeral-for-chief-prosecutor-assassinated-in-car-bombing