Pakistan’s ex-soldier to die for army headquarter attack
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Aug 14, IRNA -- A military court has handed down death sentence to a former soldier and jailed six other for the 2009 brazen attack on the army’s headquarter in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad, reports said Saturday.
On October 10, 2009, heavily-armed militants wearing suicide vests, launched attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ), killed several army guards and held army personnel for 24 hours inside the building.
Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack and the investigators had blamed militants from the banned ‘Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’ group for the attack.
Nine of the attackers were killed in the operation while a lone attacker Aqeel, alias Dr Usman was injured and arrested. According to the prosecution, the six men arrested after the attack knew about Aqeel’s plan and had helped him carry out the attack.
Those who had been handed down punishment by the field general court martial, include two army personnel and five civilians, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
In a verdict delivered Thursday evening, army’s former soldier Dr Usman was sentenced to death, while other army personnel Imran Siddiq was given life imprisonment. A fine of 200,000 rupees and 100,000 rupees has been imposed on the two, respectively.
Three convicted civilians have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while two have been given jail terms of 10 and seven years, respectively
The civilians have been convicted for assisting the attackers, helping them find their targets and inciting servicemen to wage war against the army.
Defence lawyer confirmed convictions, but offered no comments on the judgment. The convicts can appeal against the convictions.
The prime accused, Aqeel alias Dr Usman, is also involved in a number of other attacks including the bombing of Hotel Marriot in Islamabad in Sept 2008, which had killed dozens of people including several US defence officials.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30518628
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