Dhaka, Sep 1 (DPA) A high court in Bangladesh has confirmed the death sentences passed by a trial court on top leaders of the banned Islamist militant group Jamiatul Mujahideen (JM), officials said.

A two-member high court bench scrutinising the lower court verdict upheld the death sentences overnight, clearing a legal hurdle to early executions.

Shaekh Abdur Rahman, the founder of the Islamic outfit, and his deputy Bangla Bhai were among the seven militants who were given death sentences for their role in carrying out a suicide bomb attack against two district judges in Bangladesh on Nov 14, 2005.

Two junior judges, Sohail Ahmad and Jagannath Pandey, were fatally wounded in the blast, which occurred as they were traveling to office in a car in Jhalokathi town.

Both Mujahideen leaders admitted to masterminding the assassinations, which inflamed public opinion in favour of tough actions against the militants.

"The prosecution proved the case without reasonable doubt," said Mohammad Ali Asgar Khan, one of the high court justices sitting on the bench on Thursday.

The five other Mujahideen militants sent to the gallows by the lower court after their arrest three months ago were Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal, Khalid Saifullah, Asadul Islam Arif and Iftekhar Hassan Mamun, court officers said.

Only Mamun filed an appeal against the trial court judgment, which was also dismissed by the high court. The other convicted man said only Islamic courts set up under the holy Koran were competent to try them.

Bangladeshi laws, however, do not permit the implementation of death sentences handed down by lower courts without a review of the judgment by the High Court.

The Jamiatul Mujahideen group emerged as part of a terror network which orchestrated bomb attacks by militants at over 400 locations across the country on Aug 17 this year leaving six people dead and scores injured.

The Mujahideens have vowed to establish an Islamist state in Bangladesh, which has a population of 130 million with an overwhelming majority of Muslims.