BAGHDAD: A court sentenced four Iraqi security force members to death on Wednesday for Iraq’s bloodiest ever bank robbery, in which eight police guards were shot dead and millions of dollars stolen.

The robbers seized $3.8 million in a pre-dawn raid on a branch of the Al-Rafidain bank on July 28.

The cash was later recovered and a trail of clues implicated two former guards of Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi.

“You are sentenced to hang until death,” the judge told the four men. They were named as Ahmad Khalaf, found to have killed six of the police guards; Ali Eidan, Basheer Khaled and Ali Ouda. The men have 30 days in which to appeal.

Ouda testified that Jafar Lazim Eshkaya Al- Timimi, a captain in the Presidential Guard, and his nephew Lt. Amin Karim, who also previously served in the unit, had masterminded and carried out the robbery.

The duo, who have not been traced, were among four men being tried in absentia for the robbery, and were not sentenced on Wednesday.

“There will be another court convened for those who ran away,” the judge said. “If they are not arrested, there will be a further court hearing in absentia,” he added, without specifying a date.

The two other suspects not in court are a high-ranking army officer named Mohannad Abdel Saheb, and a safe-breaker, known only as Hussein.

On Aug. 27, Ouda testified that he and Khaled, both employed as police guards for banks in the capital, had confessed that they knew about the planned heist but insisted they took no part in it.

Ouda and his colleague went to the authorities and told them what they knew, but they were accused by the prosecution of taking part in the robbery.

“We went to the joint security centre and told them about it,” Ouda said at the previous hearing, explaining a robbery plan that was to use the guards to gain access to the bank under the pretence of an official inspection.

Relatives of the victims welcomed the sentences, but said they would not rest until the heist’s organizers were captured and given the same punishment.

“We are satisfied with this sentence, but our happiness will be complete only when they arrest the main planners of the crime,” said Ali Hussein Ali, father of one of the murdered policemen.

“Those people have important information, especially about the government cars they used and the people who provided protection for them. There were others involved in this crime.”

Sabah Hamid, one of the victim’s uncles, added: “It is a fair sentence but we ask for immediate implementation. I demand that those suspects who were absent be given the same verdict without delay.”