DHAKA: An Egyptian criminal court on Wednesday sentenced 26 militants to death for founding a ‘terror group’ that aimed to target ships in the Suez canal.

Egypt judicial sources said, reports The Straits Times.

Prosecutors also accused the defendants of making rockets and explosives while monitoring various security headquarters to plan attacks on them, the sources said.

The defendants were condemned for ‘founding and leading a terror group that aimed to attack people`s freedom, damage national unity and (attack) the Suez canal waterway’, according to one source.

The court referred the verdict to the mufti, a top Islamic official who under Egyptian law has to validate the sentence, and set March 19 for the final verdict.

BDST: 1938 HRS, FEB 26, 2014