The sons of Maltese journalist Daphne Galizia, who was killed in a car bomb outside her home earlier on Monday, have called for the prime minister’s resignation for “failing to uphold fundamental freedoms.”

In a scathing post on Facebook, Matthew, Andrew and Paul Caruana Galizia on Thursday said that Joseph Muscat should show political responsibility and step down.

Galizia, 53, was killed in a car bombing on Monday few metres away from her house.

The blogger and journalist was highly critical of Muscat’s government.

“Resign for watching over the birth of a society dominated by fear, mistrust, crime and corruption.

“Resign for working to cripple our mother financially and dehumanise her so brutally and effectively that she no longer felt safe walking down the street,” Galizia’s three sons wrote, addressing Muscat.

The post was shared on Matthew Caruana Galizia’s Facebook page and signed by the trio.

Their mother’s reporting in the wake of a massive document leak known as the Panama Papers in which two Maltese cabinet members were embroiled forced an early general election in June.

The sons also called for the replacement of police commissioner and the country’s attorney general.

According to the report, the bomb was likely triggered using a mobile phone.

The bomb is believed by police experts to have consisted primarily of Semtex, a powerful plastic explosive.

The damage to the crumpled car indicated that around half a kilo of the explosive had been packed into the bomb.

It said that it was the same amount of explosive used to down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

NAN