Three sentenced to death for shrine attack

A special anti-terrorism court today sentenced three men to death after finding them guilty of involvement in a 2002 terror attack on a Hindu shrine in western India that killed 33 people, a news report said.

The court, at a high-security jail in Ahmadabad, sentenced three other suspects in the attack – one to life in jail, one to five years and the other to 10 years, the Press Trust of India reported.

The three sentenced to death were identified as Chand Khan, Adam Suleman Ajmeri and Abdul Kayum Mohammed Hussain Mansuri, PTI said.

The court found them guilty of “hatching a criminal conspiracy and waging war against the nation,” it said.

The September 24, 2002 attack on the Akshardham temple in western Gujarat state apparently was in revenge for religious rioting that killed more than 1,000 Muslims in the state earlier that year.

Indian security forces said Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, carried out the attack after enlisting support from local Muslims.

Police identified 34 suspects in the case, including two dead attackers. The other 26 are still on the run, according to police.

No other details were immediately available.