Saturday, February 9, 2013

India hangs Muslim terrorist for deadly 2001 attack on Parliament

Mohammed Afzal Guru
(ABC) ndia has executed a Kashmiri separatist over his role in a deadly attack on parliament in New Delhi in 2001.

Officials say Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged after the former fruit seller's final mercy plea was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.

He is only the second person to be hanged in India in nearly a decade.

Guru was convicted of conspiring with and sheltering the militants who attacked the parliament in December 2001, an incident that brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

He was also held guilty of being a member of the banned Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which fights against Indian rule in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Five armed rebels stormed India's parliament in New Delhi on December 13, 2001, killing eight police officers and a gardener before they were shot dead by security forces.

A journalist wounded in the attack died months later.

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