 An anti-terrorism court sentenced a militant on Tuesday to 40 years in prison for possessing explosives and killing a woman during a shootout with police, lawyers said. Kamran Atif, 28, a member of the Harkatul Mujahedeen Al-Alami militant group, was arrested in May after police raided his hideout in the southern city of Karachi and found grenades, a rocket and other explosives. During the raid, he exchanged fire with police and the woman passer-by was killed, said Mazhar Qayyum, a government prosecutor. Judge Haq Nawaz Baluch sentenced Atif to 10 years in prison for causing the "incidental death" of the woman, 25 years for possessing explosives and five years for the clash with police. Defense lawyer Ghulam Qadir Jatoi said he would appeal the verdict.
| "It was all an unfortunate mistake, yer honor!" |
Atif is also suspected of involvement in a botched attempt to kill President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Karachi in April 2002. A car packed with explosives on Musharraf's motorcade route failed to detonate. A trial against Atif in that case has yet to start.
| Plenty of time for it now. |
Harkatul Mujahedeen al-Alami is an outlawed group, which has been blamed for attacks against security forces, Westerners and the government in Karachi. |