KARACHI, Sept 9: The trial of three men charged with murdering 12 people in a carbomb attack outside the US consulate in Karachi was adjourned on Monday as prosecutors asked for more time to organize their team.

Lawyers said the trial was now scheduled for Sept 14.

They said the prosecution team was waiting for government confirmation that it could nominate Raja Qureshi, the Sindh advocate-general, as chief prosecutor in the case.

“We have told the court that the (provincial) law department will issue a notification on Mr Qureshi before Sept 14,” Feroz Mahmood Bhatti, a prosecutor said.

Mr Qureshi was the lead prosecutor in the trial of British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh and three others, who were convicted last month of the charge of the kidnap and murder of American reporter Daniel Pearl.

The US consulate bombing trial has been repeatedly adjourned since it was convened earlier last month at a special anti-terrorism court inside Karachi Central Jail.

The three accused of the June 14 consulate bombing — Mohammed Imran, Mohammed Hanif and Mohammed Ashraf — have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, terrorism, conspiracy and the use of explosives.

They were arrested in July and have admitted to being leading members of the Al-Almi, an offshoot of the radical Harkat-ul-Mujahideen organization, which has long been on the US list of terrorist groups.

Twenty people were wounded in the explosion in front of the consulate. All those killed and injured were Pakistanis. — Reuters