A Pakistani military court convicted two low-ranking army officers on charges of involvement in an assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf last year, a military spokesman said on Friday. Spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said one of the officers was given the death penalty, the other was sentenced to 10 years in jail. "They were tried under the military law and they can go into appeal," he told Reuters. Sultan said the officers were involved in the first assassination attempt on Dec. 14 when a bomb blew up a bridge minutes after Musharraf's motorcade passed it.
The military court handed down the sentences a few days ago and the trial of up to four other junior army officers and six air force officers was under way, Sultan said. The announcement of the verdicts came on the first anniversary of the second attempt when suicide car bombers attacked his motorcade in which 15 people were killed. According to local press reports, the air force technicians, indoctrinated by religious radicals, had strapped large quantities of explosive to the pillars of the concrete bridge to kill Musharraf near his military house. Pakistani officials say militants linked to al Qaeda masterminded the assassination attempts on Musharraf but deny that they had infiltrated the army. Musharraf has said in the past that junior military officials were involved in the assassination attempts on him but dismissed the suggestions of involvement of senior officials.
In March, Musharraf said a Libyan linked to Osama bin Laden's network was a prime suspect in the plots. The intelligence officials identified the man as Abu Faraj Farj, who has emerged as a key al Qaeda leader in Pakistan. In August, the authorities had announced a reward of 20 million rupees ($340,000) for information leading to Farj's arrest. The police last week arrested a gang of four militants linked to Farj and foiled attempted attacks by them in the eastern city of Lahore. In September, the security forces killed Farj's close aide and Pakistan's most wanted militant, Amjad Hussain Farooqi, who was also accused of attempts on Musharraf's life. |