Pakistan court gives 21 times death penalty to four al-Qaeda militants

Four al-Qaeda militants were on Wednesday handed down '21 times' death sentence by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan for the 2012 killing of 10 under training jail wardens here.

The anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore today announced the verdict after the prosecution counsel produced evidence against the al-Qaeda terrorists -- Afzaal, Abdul Hafeez, Zulfiqar and Karamat, a Punjab Province government statement said.

The finger prints of the militants and those found on guns matched and they were identified by the witnesses.

There were several charges on them and the court also handed down life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10.8 million apart from the death sentence.

The convicts were accused of attacking jail wardens hostel in Lahore's thickly-populated locality Rasool Park near Ichhra on July 12, 2012.

Over two-dozen under training jail wardens had come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to take part in the course here.

Ten of them were killed and as many suffered injuries in pre-dawn deadly attack by the militants carrying Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades.

The terrorists were arrested in 2013 from Lahore when they were planning another attack. They were booked under different sections of the penal code and the Anti-Terrorism Act.