RAWALPINDI An anti-terrorism court issued arrest warrants of two judicial magistrates here on Saturday for not appearing in the court despite summons to record their statements in the  assassination case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

ATC-I Judge Chaudhary Habibur Rehman, who has been conducting the trail of the five accused in Adiala jail, issued the bailable arrest warrants of magistrates Ahmed Masood Janjua and Chaudhary Toufeeq Ahmed and directed them to submit surety bonds worth Rs10,000 each and appear in the court on January 17.

The court had summoned the magistrates who had initially recorded the statements of the accused Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain to have their statements recorded in the court, but the magistrates did not turn up despite receiving and accepting the summons.

The court, meanwhile, put off the hearing on the application of the accused Sher Zaman who had sought re-framing of charges against him, claiming he had been wrongly implicated in the murder of the PPP chairperson.

Separately, the court deferred the hearing in the two suicide attack cases against the two accused Hasnain and Rafaqat.

Police claimed that both were involved in the two suicide blasts; one at the R.A. Bazaar in September 2007 and second near Army House in October 2007.

Meanwhile, ACT-II Judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahot adjourned the hearing in the case of a planned suicide attack on former president Pervez Musharraf till January 13.

Sadiqabad Police arrested twelve men in June last year and seized three vehicles laden with over 1000kg explosive material from the densely populated area of Dhoke Kala Khan. They had confessed to planning  attacks on the former president.