Car bomb detonated in assassination attempt on senior judge

A senior judge in the Delta governorate of Sharqiya became the latest official to be targeted in a car bomb plot on Sunday. Judge Mohamed Abdullah, head of the Khanka Court, survived the explosion outside his apartment in Diarb Negm City, reported privately-owned Al-Masry al-Youm.

Bomb squads rushed to the scene, but no fatalities or injuries from the attack have been reported. According to local media, the bomb was placed under the judge's car. No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack at this time.

The attack is the latest in a notable rise in car bomb explosions in Egypt. In the early hours of July 11, a car bomb was detonated outside the Italian consulate in Cairo, killing a bystander. The Province of Sinai, a militant group which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in early 2015, claimed responsibility for the attack.

On June 29, Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat was killed in a car bomb explosion outside his home in the upscale Cairo suburb of Heliopolis. An official mourning period was announced after his death.

In recent months, judges have been frequent targets of terrorist attacks. On May 16, three judges were gunned down in Arish, North Sinai, hours after a preliminary death sentence for former Islamist President Morsi was announced. The attack was also claimed by the Province of Sinai, who released a video of the assassination shortly after. 

The video, which was entitled “The Liquidation of Judges," lambasted the judiciary for its application of civil law. The footage contained scenes of judges issuing harsh verdicts against Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members, and describes the judiciary as “a junta of oppressors who violated God’s promise, ruled with the laws of infidels and did not even serve justice. They acquitted the criminals and the corrupt, and tried the innocent Muslims.”

The video then cuts to footage of unknown assailants shooting at men in a microbus, in what appears to be a recording of the assassination of three judges on May 16, a day after Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to death on charges of espionage and prison break.

This attack came a week after three bombs exploded in a plot to kill Judge Moataz Khafagy, who had given out long jail terms and death sentences to Islamist sympathisers. The blast failed to harm Khafagy, but left four others injured.