KARACHI, April 21 A prosecution witness in the Allama Hasan Turabi murder case failed to identify two accused in a trial court on Wednesday despite the fact that he had picked them out in an identification parade conducted by a judicial magistrate.Six accused — Sultan Mahmood alias Saifullah, Mohammad Amin alias Khalid Shaheen, Mohammad Akbar Khan, Mohammad Rehman alias Mani, Ashfaq Qureshi and Raheemullah alias Ali Hasan — have been charged with organising a suicide attack on Allama Hasan Turabi, a leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, in July 2006.

The accused are said to be affiliated with some banned militant outfits.

The prosecution witness, Constable Mohammad Javed, who is cited as an eyewitness in the case, had identified three accused — Sultan Mahmood, Mohammad Amin and Mohammad Rehman — during an identification parade held before a judicial magistrate.

When the hearing began on Wednesday, the eyewitness appeared before Judge Anand Ram Hotwani of the anti-terrorism court (ATC-III) and testified that he was a member of the police party escorting the MMA leader on the day of the incident.

He said that when Allama Turabi's vehicle reached outside his residence in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, he saw three men sitting there and suddenly a man posing as a beggar emerged and blew himself up when Allama Turabi's nephew tried to stop him.The policeman deposed that he had picked out Sultan Mahmood, Mohammad Amin and Mohammad Rehman during the identification parade held before a judicial magistrate. But when the trial court asked him to identify the accused, he only picked out Sultan Mahmood and failed to identify the two others.

Another prosecution witness, Sub-Inspector Shahid Mehmood, also appeared in court on Wednesday and deposed that he accompanied the police party that had arrested accused Mohammad Akbar and Ashfaq Qureshi and he was a witness to the memo of arrest.

According to the prosecution, the Sindh chief of the Tehrik-i-Islami and the MMA's provincial vice-president, Allama Hasan Turabi, and his young nephew, Ali Turabi, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside his Gulshan-i-Iqbal residence on July 14, 2006.

The same set of accused was also charged with planting a remote-controlled bomb in a cart on April 6, 2006 to kill Allama Turabi when he was travelling on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road within the jurisdiction of the Mubina Town police station.

However, he escaped unhurt in this attack.

The trial of both cases is being held inside the Central Prison due to security considerations.

The court adjourned the hearing till May 4 for further evidence.