(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
Egyptian officials have paid their respects to the country's state prosecutor, who has died of wounds sustained in a bomb attack in a Cairo suburb.
Hisham Barakat died in Cairo's Al-Nozha Hospital after undergoing critical surgery.
He is the top Egyptian official assassinated since the ousting of Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohammed Morsi two years ago.
Peggy Giakoumelos reports.
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Egypt's public prosecutor has been killed in a car-bomb attack in the capital, Cairo.
Hisham Barakat died following injuries sustained in an attack on his convoy.
Mr Barakat had referred thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters to trial since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
Hundreds have been sentenced to death or life imprisonment as part of a crackdown on supporters of the banned group he once led.
Egyptian Revolutionary Council chief Dr Maha Azzam has told Al-Jazeera the incident proves the country's security situation has deteriorated.
And she says it hits at the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, too.
"It is also a deep blow to General Sisi's regime. The head of the judiciary has been targeted, and that sends a very strong signal to the regime that the security situation is escalating not in their favour and that, ultimately, they are also responsible for this escalation, that they have not managed the situation in a way that provides stability and security for the country."
Militants opposed to President Sisi had increasingly targeted judges and other senior officials.
The militants' anger particularly stems from hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Last month, the Egyptian affiliate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State urged its followers to attack judges, opening a new front in the tension in Egypt.
Hisham Barakat was the highest-ranking state official to die in a militant attack since the ousting of President Mursi after mass protests against his rule.
Arab League secretary-general Nabil Elaraby says the world needs to take a strong stand against such violence.
"This is certainly a sad day, not only for Egypt and the Arab world but it also will have an impact on the whole world. The terrorist attacks that occurred in Tunisia and Kuwait lately make us wonder if we live in a world of justice or we live in a jungle where innocent people are getting killed and blown up. The world has to stand strongly and united against terrorism until it is uprooted."
The Muslim Brotherhood has denied any link to recent militant bloodshed, reiterating what it calls a long commitment to non-violence.
But one Cairo resident, Aba Noub Ezzat, expressed concern that some of his fellow Egyptians did not want peace in the country.
"The assassination of the Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat proves that there are some people who do not want stability and the country to move forward."
No one has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.
But it has stirred fears of yet more turmoil in Egypt, which has been struggling to regain stability since the 2011 popular uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.
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