KARACHI, Nov 16: An anti-terrorism court put off hearing of the US diplomat killing case against two activists of the Al Qaeda after recording the deposition of two prosecution witnesses.

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-5, who is conducting the trial inside Central Prison, fixed November 23 for the next hearing after recording the statements of judicial magistrate Muqtadar Ali Khan and Raja Mohammed Idrees, brother of the suicide bomber.

Two Al Qaeda activists are being tried for masterminding suicide car bombing to kill US diplomat Daniel Foy. Mr Ilyas Khan, counsel for accused Anwarul Haq, and Mushtaq Ahmed, counsel for Usman Ghani, cross examined Khushi Mohammed.

The prosecution is being represented by special public prosecutor Naimat ali Randhawa.

Four people were killed on March 2 this year when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the diplomat’s vehicle a few yards away from the US consulate-general.

The blast that took place in a narrow lane between the Marriott Hotel and Naval Surgery Hospital left over 50 others wounded.

US Consulate official David Foy, his Pakistani driver Iftikhar and Lance Naik Zafar of Rangers were killed instantly.

The body of the suicide bomber, later identified as Mohammed Tahir, was also torn into pieces.

According to investigators, the explosive-laden car was parked outside the naval establishment, and when the convoy, carrying the US official appeared, the bomber rammed his vehicle into the bullet-proof car. The vehicle flew up into the air before landing across a concrete barrier on the pavement of Marriot.

Investigation of the case was assigned to Inspector Tariq who got a clue about the identity of the suicide bomber in August.