Egypt's public prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, has been killed in an apparent bomb attack on his car in Cairo, officials say, according to BBC News.

Barakat died of his wounds in hospital, a government spokesman told the BBC.

Two bodyguards were also injured in the attack, which targeted the vehicle in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis.

Barakat has referred thousands of Islamists to trial since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.