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Egypt prepares for burial of slain prosecutor general

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) 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)

By Associated Press June 30, 2015 1 min read

CAIRO (AP) – 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.