Egypt’s top public prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, has died of his wounds after being targeted in a bomb attack in Cairo.

A booby-trapped car was remotely detonated as Barakat’s convoy passed on his way to work in the Heliopolis suburb of Cairo.

Barakat was taken to hospital, but later died of his injuries. News reports suggest an unconfirmed number of other deaths and injuries.

The Egyptian government has been quick to blame the Muslim Brotherhood for the attack. No group has yet claimed responsibility, and the Brotherhood has condemned the bombing.

Barakat oversaw the prosecution of hundreds of Islamists, including former president Mohamed Mursi, in mass trials that were widely condemned internationally.

Barakat is the highest-profile assassination in recent Egyptian history. However, former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim was targeted in a similar car bomb attempt in 2013.

Hundreds of attacks against security forces have also taken place in the Sinai. Those targeted include three judges, in response to the condemnation of Mursi to death, and the director of roads and transport for the region.

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi’s regime has been accused of violating human rights in a massive crackdown on Islamism and other dissent. Thousands of Egyptians are reported to have disappeared or put in prison.