India executes Parliament attack's 'main conspirator'

Indian parliament attack convict Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged Saturday in New Delhi, said an Indian news channel Aaj Tak.

Guru was executed early Saturday morning at the high profile Tihar jail in the national capital barely a fortnight after Indian President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his clemency plea on the advise of the Home Ministry, the sources said.

Guru, a Kashmiri resident, was convicted by Indian authorities for his role in the December 2001 attack on India's Parliament house, which killed several Indian security personnel and five attackers.

He was sentenced to death in 2004 by the country's Supreme Court. The sentence was supposed to have been carried out on Oct. 20, 2006. However, the sentence was stayed after Guru's wife filed a mercy petition.

Guru's execution came less than three months after India had hanged till death Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only Pakistani militant caught alive in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks which claimed the lives of over 170 people.

This is the third execution since 1995, the first being a man in the eastern city of Kolkata in 2004 for raping and killing a school girl.

New Delhi (Xinhua)