Italy has demanded that Egypt authorise a joint investigation into the violent death of Giulio Regeni, a Cambridge University PhD student who mysteriously disappeared in Cairo last month.

Key points: Italian PhD student Giuliu Regeni who disappeared in Egypt is found dead

Italian PhD student Giuliu Regeni who disappeared in Egypt is found dead Prosecutor says he was found with cigarette burns on his body, likely tortured

Prosecutor says he was found with cigarette burns on his body, likely tortured Italy demands investigation into the incident

Mr Regeni's corpse was found on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on Wednesday, the foreign ministry in Rome confirmed after summoning Cairo's ambassador to express "the Italian Government's bewilderment over the tragic death".

Sources close to the case said that the 28-year-old was found dumped in a ditch with a badly bruised face and other signs of ill-treatment across his body.

A senior Egyptian prosecutor also said that the body was discovered half naked, with cigarette burns and other signs of torture.

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The Foreign Ministry said Italy expected "the maximum cooperation from the Egyptian authorities at every level in light of the exceptional gravity of what happened to our compatriot and the traditional bonds of friendship between the two countries".

The Egyptian ambassador was also informed that Italy wanted its own experts to be fully involved in a joint investigation into what happened.

The ministry said the ambassador, Amr Mostafa Kamal Helmy, had given assurances that the Egyptian authorities would do their utmost to find those responsible for "this criminal act".

Security officials said an investigation had begun.

Mr Regeni's body was found at the start of the highway from Cairo to Alexandria, they said.

A friend said Mr Regeni had disappeared after leaving his home in an upscale district in Cairo to meet another friend downtown.

Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi, who was in Cairo when Mr Regeni's body was discovered, cancelled the final day of a trade mission involving some 60 Italian companies in reaction to the news.

Hours earlier she had, according to the Italian media, urged Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to intervene personally in the investigation into Mr Regeni's disappearance, underlining the potential for the case to disrupt normally close diplomatic ties between Rome and Cairo.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was the first Western leader to receive former army chief Mr Sisi after his 2013 overthrow of his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi.

Mr Regeni, whose studies included Arabic and Arab literature, was from Fiumicello near Udine in north-eastern Italy.

He was in Cairo doing research for his doctoral thesis and was last seen on January 25 when he left his suburban home with the intention of travelling by metro to meet a friend in the city centre.

Cairo was extremely quiet on the day he disappeared as a result of the authorities having ordered a security clampdown on what was the fifth anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising which ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year reign.

AFP/Reuters