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KARACHI, Aug 5: An anti-terrorism court recorded on Thursday the statement of a bomb disposal expert in the Macedonian Consulate bomb blast case against nine workers of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, fixed August 6 for the next hearing after the statement by Inspector Mushab Hussain of the Bomb Disposal Squad.
The accused were charged with committing a bomb blast after stabbing two men and a woman to death on Dec 5, 2002, inside the honorary consulate of Macedonia, situated at the phase four of the Defence Housing Authority.
The bomb disposal expert, a former Pakistan Air Force official, told the court that he had immediately visited and inspected the site of blast after receiving information from the police control.
He also placed on record his report regarding the intensity of the blast. He stated that the bomb contained at least 20 kgs of high explosive material as the blast caused massive destruction to the consulate building.
The accused are Syed Sohail Akhtar alias Mustafa, Zafar Iqbal alias Sohail, Naeem Rafi alias Nimmi, Mohammed Atif, Sameerullah alias Somi, Mohammed Khalid alias Shahzad, Abdur Razzaq alias Bhiya, Syed Ahmed Kazmi alias Shahbaz and Mehmoodullah.
According to the prosecution, the accused entered the consulate building late night and stabbed Hameed Hactor Masih, Mohammed Asif and Ghazala Perveen to death. They planted an explosive device which they detonated with a remote control after leaving the consulate. The intruders also took away a computer and printer from the spot.
They were charged with the offences under Section 302, 395 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Act and Section 7 (b) of the Anti-terrorism Act.
The prosecution witness was also cross-examined by the defence counsel, M. R. Syed. Special public prosecutor, Mazhar Qayyum, has so far examined 15 prosecution witnesses.
REMANDED: The judicial magistrate, East, Ms Zabiha Khattak, remanded three workers of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi), who were arrested for possessing a huge cache of arms and ammunition.
The magistrate gave Ghulam Dastagir, Nazim alias Kala and Aftab alias Affu to the investigation squad of police for interrogation till Aug 9. According to police, the three led to the seizure of the arms cache in Landhi.
Pakistan Rangers Sindh, on Wednesday had announced the seizure of the arms and ammunition from two locations in Landhi following the arrest of the three Haqiqi activists. The ammo included 19 sub machine, 12 7-mm rifles, three MP-5 guns, telescope sights, hand grenade and pistols.
