An Afghan court has sentenced to death a suspected member of the ousted Taleban regime over accusations he was involved in a bomb attack that killed 15 school children, an official said on Saturday.
But the accused, Abdullah Jan, has pleaded not guilty to any connection with the bomb, which also wounded 50 people when it went off in the southern city of Kandahar in January, the official added.
"He was handed down the death sentence recently for the incident," Deputy Chief Justice Fazl Ahmad Manawi told Reuters.
"He insists that he has nothing to do with it, but there is strong enough evidence to show his involvement." Jan is the third Taleban suspect to be sentenced to death recently. The other two were accused of killing a French woman working for the UN refugee agency in November in Ghazni.
The cases will be referred to the appeal court, and the death penalty can only be administered if President Hamid Karzai approves it, Manawi said.
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