PESHAWAR, Oct 23: An anti-terrorism court has acquitted two suspects charged in a devastating suicide bombing targeting former federal minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao which had left 53 persons dead and another 137 injured when they were offering Eid prayers in 2007.

The court presided over by Syed Asghar Ali Shah pronounced that the case was badly investigated and the evidence on record did not connect the two suspects, Muslim and Arif Khan, with the commission of the offence.

Official sources informed that the order was announced by the presiding officer on October 22, but due to security reasons it has so far not been made public.

The occurrence had taken place on December 21, 2007 on the occasion of Eidul Azha when Aftab Sherpao was offering prayer along with his two sons, Sikander Sherpao and Mustafa Sherpao, and several other people at his native Sherpao village.

Mustafa Sherpao had also received injuries in the blast. FIR of the bombing was registered at Umerzai police station in Charsadda under several sections of Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.