Islamabad: A Pakistani court has sentenced three Islamic militants to death after finding them guilty of killing four women as they prayed at a church near the capital last year, a police official said today (Jan 23, 2004).

The three men were captured shortly after the August 9, 2003, attack on the grounds of a Presbyterian hospital in Taxila, a small town about 40 km Northwest of Islamabad.

The women were all nurses at a hospital adjacent to the church. They died as they were leaving the church when attackers hurled grenades at the congregation. One assailant also died in the assault.

The Taxila hospital is supported by the Presbyterian Church, USA, and the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan. It was founded in 1922 and treats mostly poor Muslims, specialising in eye diseases.

The attack was one of several against foreigners and minority Christians in the months following President Gen Pervez Musharraf's decision to ally himself with the United States in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in America.