Indian court finds 12 guilty in 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed 188 people

NEW DELHI – Twelve suspected Islamic militants were convicted Friday in the bombings nine years ago of seven Mumbai commuter trains that killed 188 people and wounded more than 800.

The trial in India’s notoriously slow justice system lasted more than seven years. It concluded in August last year, but Judge Yatin D. Shinde took one year to write the verdict.

He found 12 defendants guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy and acquitted one person for lack of evidence. Shinde said he would announce the sentences on Monday after hearing arguments from the prosecutors and defence attorneys. The defendants face possible death penalties or life in prison.

Seven bombs exploded within a span of 10 minutes during the evening rush hour on trains in Mumbai, the financial and entertainment capital of India, on July 11, 2006.

Prosecutors said the conspiracy was hatched by Pakistan’s Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives with help from the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, a banned militant organization.

The 12 convicted in the case were believed to belong to the Indian militant group.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group. Pakistan has denied the Indian claims.

The neighbouring countries have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947 and have been engaged in a fitful peace process in recent years.

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This story has been revised to correct the spelling of the Pakistan-based group to Lashkar-e-Taiba instead of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.