PAKISTAN: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced three Islamic militants to death yesterday for organising a suicide bomb attack that killed 11 French naval technicians in the port city of Karachi last year.
A car packed with explosives blew up outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi on May 8th last year, killing the Frenchmen, who were helping Pakistan build submarines. Three Pakistanis, including the bomber, also died.
In terms of foreign casualties, it was the worst of a series of attacks on Western and Christian targets in Pakistan blamed on militant groups angered by Pakistan's decision to back the US-led war in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has been under increasing pressure from Washington and its Western allies to act against such groups.
Two of the men convicted, Asif Zaheer and Rizwan Ahmed Basheer, appeared for the sentencing at Karachi's Central Prison. A third man, Mohammad Sohail, who is on the run, was sentenced in absentia to death.
Meanwhile, the alleged deputy commander of a group linked to al-Qaeda and blamed for last year's Bali nightclub bombings has been arrested in Indonesia.
Idris, who uses only one name, was picked up in Medan city on Sumatra island, Bali police said yesterday.
He was detained with a group of other terrorist suspects.
"He has confessed to his entire role in the bombing," said Bali's police chief. "This is a very important arrest."
He said Idris had been caught after being part of a gang who robbed a Medan bank. The money was to be used to "fund a future operation", he said.
He gave no other details, but prosecutors have accused Idris of being the deputy of Imam Samudra, the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings. Samudra is on trial on the resort island for the attack, which killed 202 people, including 26 British holidaymakers. - (Reuters)