A Pakistani military court sentenced four air force staff to death and two to life in jail today for involvement in an al-Qaeda-inspired assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.
Mr Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, narrowly escaped the attempt to kill him on December 14, 2003, when a bomb blew up a bridge in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, next to the capital Islamabad, minutes after his motorcade passed it.
The six low-ranking men were tried in a military court over the past six months, a Pakistan Air Force statement said.
"Four have been awarded the death sentence whereas two have been awarded life imprisonment," it said. The statement said the trial ended yesterday but did not name the convicts who, it added, could lodge an appeal.
A man named Islam Siddiqui was hanged in August after being convicted of taking part in the same assassination attempt, and the PAF statement said a civilian named Mushtaq had already been sentenced to death in the case, though it did not say when.
On December 25, 2003, Mr Musharraf survived a second attempt on his life when attackers rammed a car bomb into his motorcade, killing 15 people.
Five Islamist militants, including a soldier, were sentenced to death in August for the second attempt.
Pakistan's military says no senior officers were involved and the principal planners in these attempts were Abu Faraj Farj al Liby, the so-called al-Qaeda "number three" arrested in May, and Amjad Farooqi, a Pakistani militant gunned down last year.
Mr Musharraf was targeted by al-Qaeda after he pledged support for the US-led war on terrorism in the wake of September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and for withdrawing support for the Taliban militia harbouring Osama bin Laden's network in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Home-grown militant groups, some with ties to al-Qaeda, have carried out a series of attacks over the past four years to vent their anger at Mr Musharraf's policies.