Afghan Court Sentences 2 Bank Killers to Death

Posted June 14th, 2011 at 7:35 pm (UTC-5)
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Afghanistan's top court on Tuesday sentenced two men to death and a third to at least 10 years in prison for killing 38 people in a February attack on a bank in the northeastern city of Jalalabad.

A group of militants armed with guns and suicide bombs stormed a branch of Kabul Bank in the capital of Nangarhar province four months ago, triggering a gunbattle with security forces that lasted several hours.

Surveillance video of the attack showed the men opening fire on unarmed civilians, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

One of the men who was sentenced to death, Zar Ajam, said he “enjoyed” killing the civilians who he said were “foreigners.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai must first sign the death warrant of the two men before their sentence can be carried out.

In violence Tuesday, a NATO soldier died in a bomb attack in western Afghanistan.