Three jailed over plot to kill Pakistan President

Three Islamic militants have been jailed for 10 years after being convicted of planning to kill Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf.

The ruling was announced by prosecutor Abdul Wahid Khan at a high-security jail in Karachi, where the trial of the men was held because of security reasons.

Two other men were acquitted. Police had charged the five men with plotting to assassinate Musharraf on April 26, 2002, while he was visiting the southern port city.

The prosecution said the plot failed because a remote-controlled bomb, hidden in a car parked along the route the president was travelling, failed to detonate.

Judge Maqbool Rizvi said he was freeing two defendants - Mohammed Wasim Akhtar, a former paramilitary ranger official, and Mohammed Sharib, an alleged Islamic militant - for lack of evidence.

He convicted Mohammed Hanif, Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Ashraf - all alleged members of Harakat-ul Mujahedeen al-Almi, an offshoot of Harakat-ul Mujahedeen.

Abdul Waheed, an attorney for the three convicted men, said he would appeal. One of the convicted men, Imran, later told reporters: "I knew that the judge would convict us."

The attorney for Akhtar and Sharib welcomed the acquittal of his clients. "I am 100% satisfied with the court decision," said Maqbool-ur-Rehman.

Musharraf has faced sharp criticism from pro-Taliban groups for supporting the US in the war on terror.