The government in Egypt is dissolving the much feared and hated secret police.
The State Security Investigation Service (SSIS) had been blamed for decades of human rights abuses.
The interior ministry says it will be replaced by a national security organisation whose main task will be to fight terrorism.
The actions of the SSIS helped ignite the popular uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak last month, the BBC reports.
Dissolving the organisation was one of the key demands of the protest movement.
The SSIS had 100,000 employees.
