MIANWALI, May 4 Three militants were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in Sargodha on Tuesday for killing eight police officials and blowing up a check-post at Qudratabad last year.

On Feb 7, 2009, militants killed all the eight policemen deployed at the check-post and then blew up the double-storey building by placing explosives in it. The bodies were buried under the rubble of the post located on Mianwali-Lahore Road.

Later, police found two bags full of explosives near a graveyard in the adjacent Chiddroo area.

Police and intelligence agencies investigated the case and arrested Abdullah alias Ghazali, the alleged ringleader of militants, and his accomplices Abdul Hai of Sultanwala Sharqi (Chidhroo) and Saleem Zaman of Wan Bhachran.

Two other suspects, Sher Abbas and Nadir Abdullah, are still at large.

ATC judge Mian Muhammad Anwar Nazir handed down death sentence on nine counts to Abdullah, Hai and Zaman. The court also fined them Rs600,000 each.