Argentine prosecutor who accused Cristina Kirchner over 1994 bombings found dead

Alberto Nisman, who on Monday was due in parliament to present his case against president Cristina Kirchner, found dead days after warning "I could end up dead because of this"

A prosecutor who has accused President Cristina Kirchner of covering up Iran's alleged involvement in the country's worst terrorist attack has been found dead in his Buenos Aires apartment – hours before he was due to present his findings.

Alberto Nisman was discovered lying dead in his bathroom in the early hours of Monday morning, with a handgun by his side. Initial reports suggested suicide.

The veteran prosecutor had spent the past two years compiling a 300-page case on the 1994 bombings of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building (AMIA), which killed 85 people. Iran has long been suspected as being behind the bombings.

Mr Nisman has accused Mrs Kirchner and her foreign minister, Hector Timerman, of attempting to "erase" Iran's role in the attack, in return for favourable oil deals.

"The president and her foreign minister took the criminal decision to fabricate Iran's innocence to sate Argentina's commercial, political and geopolitical interests," he said.

Mr Nisman said he wanted to question them both, and was waiting for a judge to decide whether there was a case for the president and foreign minister to answer. Administration officials dismissed the charges as "ridiculous", and Iran has always denied that it colluded with Hizbollah to carry out the deadly attack.

No one has yet been arrested in connection with the bombing.

Mr Nisman was due on Monday afternoon to present his case against Mrs Kirchner and other senior figures to the Argentine parliament's committee on criminal law (Comisión de Legislación Penal).

He was found by his mother, who had tried on Sunday to get in contact with her son. When she failed, she went to his 13th floor apartment, in the smart docklands district of the capital, Puerto Madero. The flat was locked from the inside, so a locksmith was called.

^{Members of the coast guard carry the body of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman outside his home (Reuters)}

"We're asking for caution while we wait for more information," said fellow prosecutor Viviana Fein, one of the first to arrive at the scene. "In the coming days we will know what happened. We found a weapon."

Clarin, one of Argentina's leading opposition publications, reported that just a few days earlier, he had told the newspaper, "I could end up dead because of this."

Mr Nisman, in a separate TV interview, had also been considering agreeing to have his security detail increased
.