Indian court sentences 38 to death for fatal 2008 bombings

By ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — A court in India has sentenced to death 38 people for a series of bomb blasts in 2008 that left more than 50 dead in Gujarat state, which has a history of violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims. It was the first time that so many accused have received death sentences in a single case in India. The sentences must be confirmed by a higher court. The attacks in Ahmedabad 13 years ago underscored communal tensions that are still reverberating in India. According to police documents, the bombings were carried out by Muslim militants as revenge for the 2002 Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat in which more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed. It was some of the worst religious violence India has seen.