Pakistani court acquits US consulate bomb suspect

KarachiI, June 30 : A Pakistani anti-terrorism court today acquitted a man who had been suspected of involvement in a bomb attack on the US consulate in Karachi four years ago that killed 12 Pakistanis, his lawyer said.

But the suspect, Naveed-ul-Hasan, said to be a member of the shadowy Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Alami group, will remain in custody till July 5, when a decision is expected on accusations of involvement in a failed assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf the same year, said lawyer Sami Ullah.

''The prosecutor failed to produce even a single (piece of) evidence against him, and failed to prove his connection with the attack on the US consulate,'' Sami Ullah told Reuters.

A car packed with explosives was parked outside the US consulate in Pakistan's commercial hub of Karachi in June 2002.

It exploded killing 12 people, including a policeman.

In 2003, a court convicted four men of involvement in the attack. Two of them were given the death penalty, while two other received life sentences.

Hasan was arrested in November 2004 from the town of Wagah near the border with India.

Reuters