Musharraf 'plotters' charged

A Pakistani court has charged five men with attempting to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf.

Hanif and Imran have been sentenced to death

Four of the men belong to an outlawed militant group while the fifth is a former member of a paramilitary police force.

The four militants were convicted last week for their role in a car bomb attack last year on the US consulate in Karachi.

Twelve Pakistanis were killed in that attack.

The men are accused of of trying to murder President Musharraf by setting off a bomb in a Suzuki pick-up vehicle while he was on a visit to Karachi in April last year.

But the bomb apparently failed to detonate.

The maximum penalty for attempted murder is life imprisonment.

Death sentence

Two of the men, Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Hanif, have already been sentenced to death in connection with the attack on the US consulate.

Two other militants, Mohammed Sharib and Mufti Zubair, were sentenced to life for their role in that bombing.

All four have appealed against their convictions.

Police say the van was also used in an effort to kill President Musharraf

Police allege that the car used in the suspected attempt on the life of President Musharraf was the one used to attack the consulate.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty and their lawyers said the prosecution had no case.

"I am fully confidant that all the defendants will be acquitted," defence lawyer Maqboo-ur-Rehman said.

Radical group

The four men are all members of a radical offshoot of the Harkat ul-Mujahideen militant group.

The al-Almi faction, which Imran and Hanif are said to have led, was formed in Afghanistan during Taleban rule after the US and Pakistan banned the pro-Kashmiri Harkat ul-Mujahideen.

It is believed to be an extremist Islamic group sympathetic towards al-Qaeda.

Pakistani authorities say its members have been involved in most of the terrorist activities in the country in the last couple of years, mainly in retaliation against US-led military action in Afghanistan.