Dozens sentenced to death for major terrorist attack

A special court in India sentenced 38 defendants to death and 11 others to life imprisonment on Friday for their role in a series of deadly bombings in 2008.

Each convict was also fined and ordered to pay compensation to the victims and their families, the court in India’s western Gujarat region ruled.

The court acquitted 28 people due to either insufficient or no evidence against them. One of the 28 was previously released on bail because he was suffering from a mental illness, while the rest have spent nearly 13 years in jail, the Times of India said.

In July 2008, over 20 bombs went off across Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city, in the span of over an hour, killing 56 people and injuring more than 200. The blasts took place at bus stops and outside two major hospitals.

The Indian Mujahideen, an Islamist terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group said at the time that the blasts were a “revenge” for the riots and violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, according to India Today.