RAWALPINDI, May 18 An anti-terrorism court here on Monday formally indicted nine men for involvement in a suicide attack which killed Pakistan Army's Surgeon General Lt-Gen Mushtaq Baig in February last year.

ATC No. II Judge Sakhi Mohammad Kahot framed the charges against Mohammad Ilyas alias Qari Jamil of Chakwal; Mohammad Rizwan alias Shamasul Haq, Mohammad Sarfaraz alias Mohammad Khan and Zeeshan Jalil alias Khizar of Karachi; Dr Abdul Razzaq of Lahore; Mohammad Naeem Shakir alias Zubair of Sheikhupura; Mohammad Nadeem alias Babu Salahuddin of Rawalpindi; and Faisal Ahmed Khan and Osama bin Waheed alias Hadayatullah of Bhakar.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty and said they would face the trial. The court fixed June 1 as the next date of hearing to record the statements of the prosecution witnesses.

The nine men were arrested on January 29 from the outskirts of Rawalpindi with explosive material, and some of them had been identified by eye-witnesses during their identification parade in Adiala Jail. They had also been questioned about other people involved in suicide blasts in Rawalpindi's cantonment area.

Lt-Gen Mushtaq Baig along with seven other persons was killed at a traffic signal on the busy Mall Road on February 25 last year. He was also the Director General Medical Services (Inter Services).

Meanwhile, an additional district and sessions judge directed the district accounts officer to attach the monthly salary of Saddar Bairooni police SHO and asked the police official to explain why he had not been complying with court orders.

Judge Ghulam Mehdi Khan issued the show-cause notice to the SHO for not submitting a charge-sheet against two men arrested for allegedly firing at police on Adiala Road last June. A constable was killed and another injured.