Cairo--Egypt's state prosecutor was wounded when a powerful bomb hit his convoy in the capital on Monday, 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 State group's affiliate in Egypt called for attacks on the judiciary following the hanging of six alleged militants.
AFP
