KARACHI, Jan 8: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of the US diplomat killing case against two activists of Al Qaeda as none of the two defence counsel turned up.

The judge, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, marked Ilyas Khan and Mushtaq Ahmed absent in the court diary and put off the hearing till Jan 11.

Two Al Qaeda activists – Anwarul Haq and Usman Ghani -- are being tried for masterminding a suicide car bombing to kill a US diplomat.

Four people were killed on March 2 last year when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the diplomat’s vehicle yards away from the US consulate-general. The blast that took place in a narrow lane between the Marriott Hotel and the Naval Surgery Hospital also left over 50 others wounded.

US consulate official David Foy, his Pakistani driver Iftikhar and Lance Naik Zafar of the 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 the Marriot.