Cairo: An Egyptian judge who tried former president Mohammad Mursi in 2015 survived an assassination attempt on Friday when a parked car exploded as his vehicle drove by, the Interior Ministry said.

The target was Judge Ahmad Abu Al Fotouh, who presides over a felony court in a district of Cairo. The blast caused no injuries, the ministry said in a statement.

Judges, policemen and other senior officials have increasingly been targeted by radical Islamists angered by the hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

A newly-emerged militant group, the Hasam Movement, claimed responsibility for Friday’s bombing, which occurred in the eastern Cairo neighbourhood of Nasr City.