PESHAWAR, Oct 11: A local anti-terrorism court on Friday acquitted two suspected terrorists, including a would-be suicide bomber for lack of evidence.

Judge Azhar Khan observed that the evidence on record did not connect the two, Fazal Shah and Zain Shah, both residents of Mohmand Agency, with terrorism.

Police arrested the suspected terrorists on July 24 this year in the jurisdiction of Khazana police station on the outskirts of Peshawar, saying the two were riding a motorcycle.

They claimed that Fazal Shah was wearing a suicide vest, while Zain Shah had a pistol and that the former wanted to blow himself up but didn’t identify target.

Police said the suicide vest was later defused by the bomb disposal unit.

The two were charged under Section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act, Section 13 of the Arms Ordinance and sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substance Act.

However, the court acquitted them under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the trial court to acquit an accused at any stage of the trial when it realises keeping in view the evidence on record that there is no possibility of the conviction of the accused.

The lawyer for suspects said the statements recorded by the prosecution witnesses were full of contradictions.

He said one of the witnesses claimed that the BDU members were accompanying them; another said that they came to the spot later on, whereas another insisted they came to the police station and defused the suicide vest there.

The lawyer said even there were contradictions in statements about the time of the occurrence. — Bureau Report