India sentences two to death over 2007 blasts

An Indian court Monday sentenced two members of a banned Islamist militant group to death for carrying out twin blasts in August 2007 in the southern city of Hyderabad that killed 44 people.

A third man was sentenced to life imprisonment for providing shelter to the bombers, the Press Trust of India reported.

One explosion went off in an auditorium packed with families watching a laser show. Minutes later a second blast ripped through a congested street food stall in another part of the city.

Aneeq Shafique Sayeed and Mohammed Akbar Ismail Choudhury were convicted on September 4.

The men belonged to the Islamic militant group Indian Mujahideen, which police say is an offshoot of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.

In 2011 the US included Indian Mujahideen in its official blacklist of foreign terrorist organisations. The trial heard testimony from 170 witnesses before closing arguments were made last month.

Three others accused in the protracted case including the main conspirator Riyaz Bhatkal remain at large.