KARACHI, Feb 15: The authorities on Saturday again failed to produce in an anti-terrorism court two Islamic militants suspected of involvement in a suicide bomb attack that killed 11 French engineers.

The court adjourned the hearing to Feb 24, a police investigator told reporters.

The police had made several requests to the Sindh home affairs department to hold the trial inside jail for security reasons, but there had been no response, the investigator added.

Judge Feroz Bhatti asked the police to decide whether the trial should be held inside prison or not.

Militants Asif Zaheer and Mohammed Bashir have been charged with the May 8 bombing, in which a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a Pakistan navy bus in which French naval engineers were sitting outside Sheraton hotel in Karachi.

They have been charged with murder, terrorism and illegal possession of explosives and could face death penalty, but Bashir’s father, Abdul Razzak, insists his son is innocent.

“They have no case and that is why they are delaying the trial,” Razzak told AFP.