Dhaka, Nov 26 (IANS): A court in Dhaka sentenced two activists of the militant Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to death Wednesday, for shooting dead a police informant during a search operation nearly eight years ago.

Dhaka's Fourth Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge A.B.M. Nazmul Haque gave the verdict in the 2006 firing case in Tangail, bdnews24.com reported.

The convicted are Mohammad Saiful Islam and Abdur Rahman Fahad alias Alal.

"Though the case details do not describe (the convicted) as militants, they face several other trials where they have been characterised as JMB activists," said public prosecutor Taslima Yasmeen Dipa.

The two convicted men had fired upon the police during a search operation on the bus that they were travelling Dec 29, 2006.

It left police informant Joynal Abedin dead and inspector Abdur Rab injured.

The case documents state that the men, posing as passengers, were transporting a huge amount of explosives in the bus.