Egypt 'finds killers of Italian student Giulio Regeni'

Egypt says it has found the criminal gang who killed Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo earlier this year.

Police found a bag belonging to the student during a raid on a flat in which all the members of the gangs were killed, the interior ministry said.

The gang specialised in abducting foreigners while posing as policemen, it added.

Giulio Regeni's body was found beside a road on the western outskirts of Cairo, a week after he had gone missing.

His body showed signs of torture.

"The security forces on Thursday managed to track down a gang in New Cairo that used to pose as policemen. It specialised in abducting foreigners and robbing them," the ministry said in a statement.

"There was an exchange of fire with the police and all members of the gang were killed."

Speculation

Mr Regeni, a 28-year-old PhD student at the department of politics and international studies at the University of Cambridge, was a visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo (AUC).

He is reported to have been carrying out research on trade unions and labour rights in Egypt - a sensitive topic in recent years.

He disappeared after leaving his Cairo home to meet on a friend on the evening of 25 January, which was the fifth anniversary of the start of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, when there was a heavy police presence in Cairo.

When his body was found, prosecutors said there were bruises, knife wounds and cigarette burns all over his body suggesting he had suffered a "slow death".

Rights groups and opposition figures speculated that he was killed by members of the Egyptian security forces - claims Cairo had strongly denied.

Italy's government has been putting pressure on Egypt to find those responsible for Mr Regeni's death.