CAIRO — Egypt's official news agency says President Mohammed Morsi has appointed as the country's new intelligence chief a veteran official involved in the brokering of last year's release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants.

Mohammed Raafat Abdel-Wahed, appointed Wednesday, was key in the Cairo-mediated deal between Hamas and Israel that led to the freeing of Gilad Schalit in 2011 in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Morsi fired the previous chief over the Aug. 5 slaying of 16 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai along the border with Gaza and Israel. Abdel-Wahed was originally named as interim head.

The country's State Security Prosecution, meanwhile, said police arrested the chief suspect in the Aug. 5 attack during protests last week outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo over an anti-Islam film.