KARACHI, Sept 5: The hearing of the US Consulate carbombing case was put off on Thursday as the prosecution witnesses did not turn up.

Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the ATC-1, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, fixed Sept 9 for the next hearing of the case against three leaders of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al- Aalmi.

The self-styled chief of his own Aalmi faction of the banned organization, Mohammed Imran, his deputy, Mohammed Ashraf, and finance secretary Mohammed Hanif, have been charged for their involvement in the US consulate carbombing that had killed 12 people, including five women, and wounded 43 others.

They are facing the charges under sections 302, 324,427 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), section 3/4 of the Explosive Act, and section 7-B of the Anti-terrorist Act, which involves death penalty.

The defence counsel, Abdul Waheed Katpur and Raza Ali Abidi, requested the court to cross-examine two prosecution witnesses on the same day.

According to the prosecution, represented by special public prosecutor Feroze Mehmood Bhatti, Shah Muhammed Hussain and Muhammed Ramzan were the eye-witnesses.

The judge, who had earlier recorded the deposition of the complainant of the case as the first witness for the prosecution, ordered the prosecution to produce the two eye-witnesses before the court at 12noon on the next date of hearing.