Jun. 5, 2005
A Pakistani court sentenced a terrorist to death on Saturday for masterminding two suicide attacks on minority Shi''ite Muslims that killed at least 45 people, lawyers said. The convict, Gul Hasan, belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an underground banned group that has ties with the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda linked terrorists. Judge Haq Nawaz of an anti-terrorism court said Hasan was found guilty of masterminding attacks on two Shi''ite mosques in Karachi in May last year, in which around 127 people were also injured. "We are satisfied with the verdict and the conviction was based on the confession made by the convict," said Mazhar Qayyum, a public prosecutor.
Defence lawyer Mushtaq Ahmad said his client was innocent. "We are going to appeal against the verdict in high court within a week," he said. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is one of Pakistan's most feared teoororist groups and police have blamed it for much of the sectarian bloodletting in the country. It has also been implicated in attacks on Western targets in Karachi, including the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002, and in two attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf. Investigators also suspect that the group was behind suicide attacks in the capital Islamabad and Karachi last month in which at least 24 people died, most of them Shi''ites. More than 100 people have been killed in tit-for-tat attacks by majority Sunni and minority Shi''ite militants in the past year. Most of the sectarian victims have been Shi''ite Muslims, who account for about 15 per cent of a Pakistan's predominantly Sunni population of 150 million.
Sunday June 05, 2005 (1443 PST) KABUL: The alleged terror network al-Qaeda has claimed shooting down an F-16 with a US-made stinger missile in the Shinkai area of Afghanistan southern Khost province. A video compact disk (CD) received to Pajhwok Afghan News shows al-Qaeda commander Abdul Hadi Iraqi holding a stinger - the most deadly weapon against fighter jets - and pointing at a (US) jet.
Hadi was al-Qaeda's war correspondent in Takhar province and Bagram areas during the Taliban rule.
The stinger hits the jet but it is unclear whether it comes down or not. However, they claimed the jet had been downed.
Through the video, al-Qaeda rejected the US claims regarding the killing of its leader Abu al hiasam Alyamani in a missile attack. US's ABC television had claimed the man was killed in a missile attack in the Khost province near Pak-Afghan border.
The source privy to this news agency claimed they (the US authorities) released the 'false' news regarding the killing of Alyamani to cover up the shooting down of the jet and the casualties.
The one and a half hour duration video shows Abdul Hadi Iraqi along with other Arab fighters holding small and heavy arms and moving in a mountainous area of Khost province.
They have also been shown shifting the arms including RPG -7 rockets and heavy machine guns to their hideouts on camels. The Arab warriors with Abdul Hadi sitting beside them are preparing and sipping tea as well.
Abdul Hadi Iraqi is among al-Qaeda elements who is wanted to United States and also carries head money.