Egypt detains 6 Islamists over assassinating top prosecutor

Egypt's Public Prosecution ordered on Sunday detention of six members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group over involvement in last year's assassination of the country's prosecutor general, official MENA news agency reported.

Ordering 15-day detention for the suspects, the prosecution accused them of belonging to a terrorist group and attempting to harm social peace.

In late June 2015, a bomb attack in Cairo killed Egypt's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat, who referred thousands of Islamists to mass trials over terror and violence charges since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013 in response to mass protests.

Also on Sunday, Egyptian Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar told a news conference that "the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group is the number one element involved in the prosecutor general's assassination."

He added that the elements of the group were trained by the Palestinian Hamas movement to carry out the assassination, noting it was done via an 80-kg explosive device.

"The plot also attempted to target a number of figures and embassies in Egypt," Abdel-Ghaffar told reporters.

Since Morsi's removal, mounting terror attacks killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers with a Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group claiming responsibility for most of them. Endit