PAKISTAN. MILITANT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ATTACKS ON SHIAS

a Pakistani court sentenced Islamic militant Gul Hasan to death for masterminding two suicide attacks on minority Shias that killed at least 45 people. Hasan belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an underground banned militant group that had ties with the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and al Qaida-linked militants. Judge Haq Nawaz of the anti-terrorism court said Hasan was found guilty of masterminding attacks on two Shia mosques in Karachi in May 2004, in which around 127 people were also injured.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was one of Pakistan’s most feared militant groups and police had blamed it for much of the sectarian bloodletting in the country. It had 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.