An Egyptian court has sentenced to death Hisham Ashmawy, an ex-special forces officer turned Islamist militant, over several terror attacks, reports AFP news agency.

The Cairo criminal court condemned Ashmawy and 36 co-defendants to hang on 54 charges, a judicial source told AFP.

He was an officer with Egypt's special forces but discharged in 2012 over extremist religious views.

He hit the headlines after he became one of the prime suspects in an attempted assassination of the former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim in a 2013 suicide car bombing.

Mr Ibrahim survived the bombing near his Cairo home but some 20 policemen and civilians were wounded.

He was since dubbed Egypt's "most-wanted man" by the country's press.

Security forces in Libya caught him in the port city of Darnah in 2018. They said at the time that he was wearing an explosive vest but was unable to detonate it.