SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2005
Pak soldier hanged for plotting to kill Musharraf
MULTAN: A Pakistani soldier accused of involvement in a plot to kill President General Pervez Musharraf two years ago was executed early Saturday, jail authorities said.
Islam Siddiqui, 35, was hanged before dawn in central Pakistan's Multan prison, said jail superintendent Malik Ataullah.
Siddiqui, a former soldier, was sentenced to death by a military court for involvement in a plot to kill Musharraf, who is also chief of the army staff, Ataullah said.
Musharraf survived two attempts on his life in December 2003 in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad when suspects with alleged links to Al-Qaeda tried to kill him with explosives for supporting the US-led 'war on terror'.
The president had rejected a mercy petition by Siddiqui, who came from the Jacobabad district of southern Sindh province. Siddiqui's body was handed over to his family for burial in his home town.
A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Siddiqui had been involved in the bombing of a Rawalpindi bridge which collapsed seconds after Musharraf's convoy passed over it on December 14, 2003.
A hi-tech jamming device on the president's car had delayed the explosions of five bombs. No one was injured in the attack.
Musharraf survived a second attack in the same area weeks later, on Christmas Day, when two suicide bombers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into his motorcade, killing 15 people.
Pakistani authorities in September shot dead local Al-Qaeda lynchpin Amjad Farooqi, a co-planner in the Christmas Day attempt on Musharraf's life.
Pakistani forces in May captured Libyan national Abu Faraj al-Libbi, said to be a close associate of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Musharraf has publicly accused al-Libbi of masterminding the two failed attempts to assassinate him.
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