Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru hanged in Delhi's Tihar jail

NEW DELHI: Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru has been hanged in Delhi's Tihar jail on Saturday morning.

According to TV reports, home ministry has confirmed that Afzal Guru has been hanged.

Earlier the reports said that his mercy plea had been rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee. He was convicted for his role in the attack on Parliament in 2001.

A curfew has been clamped in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Afzal Guru was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court in 2004. His hanging, scheduled for October 2006, was suspended or stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition on his behalf.

Sources say that the President informed the home ministry that he had rejected the mercy petition on January 23.

In December 2001, five heavily-armed terrorists drove into the Parliament complex and opened fire.

Nine people were killed, most of them members of the security forces. The terrorists were shot dead.

Both houses of Parliament had just been adjourned and several MPs were still inside.

A few days later, Afzal Guru was arrested.

The main opposition party, the BJP, has repeatedly questioned the delay in the execution of Afzal Guru, and its leaders last questioned the government in Parliament on the 11th anniversary of the attack last month.

In November last year, Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist from Pakistan who was caught during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, was executed in a Pune jail in a top-secret operation.

Source: The Times of India, February 9, 2013

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