Dhaka / AFP
A Bangladesh court on Tuesday sentenced to death six suspected militants for a deadly bank robbery last year, as authorities crack down on local hardliners following a wave of killings. Dhaka judge SM Quddus Zaman convicted and sentenced the men over the robbery, which raised fears at the time of local groups raising funds to finance extremist activities.
“The judge sentenced six people to death and handed a life term to another person for the bank robbery,†prosecutor Khandakar Abdul Mannan said, adding that one of those sentenced was still on the run.
Two others were given three years in jail while another two were acquitted, Mannan said.
A bank manager and seven others were killed when the group stormed a Bangladesh Commerce Bank branch outside Dhaka in April 2015, exploding bombs to create panic and then stabbing and shooting customers and others.