Pervez Musharraf declared fugitive in Benazir Bhutto murder trial

A Pakistan anti-terrorism court Wednesday declared former military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive in the murder trial of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

A court official said he had "absconded", adding that the court has ordered his property to be confiscated.

Musharraf, who was charged with Bhutto's 2007 assassination in 2013, has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later.

The court also acquitted five men accused of being Taliban militants and involved in the conspiracy to murder Bhutto, the court official said.

However it found two police officers guilty of "mishandling the crime scene", and sentenced each of them to 17 years imprisonment and a fineof 500,000 rupees ($4,700).

Benazir Bhutto, the Muslim world'sfirst female prime minister,was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack during an election rally in Rawalpindi.

The verdicts are the first to be issued in the case, and come nearly 10 years after her death.

Musharraf`s government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

In 2010, a UN report accused Musharraf`s government of failing to give Bhutto adequate protection and said her death could have been prevented.