3 Taliban militants executed in Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Three Taliban militants convicted of terrorism have been executed at a high security prison in Pakistan, according to a military official Wednesday.

“Another three hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism, including attacks on armed forces and law enforcement agencies have been executed at a high security prison in [northeastern] Sahiwal district,” army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said in a statement.

The convicts -- Said Zaman, Sha Waleh and Muhammad Zeeshan -- belonged to the Pakistani Taliban’s mother coalition, Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan, and were tried by military courts.

The military courts -- established after a deadly 2014 gun-and-bomb attack on an army-run school that killed over 140 people, mostly students, in northern Peshawar city -- have so far handed death sentences to some 161 militants.

Of them, 21 have been executed.

After the Peshawar school attack, among the deadliest terror attacks in the history of the South Asian nuclear state, Pakistan ended a six-year moratorium on executions by hanging two Taliban commanders in 2015.

The country had imposed a de facto ban on capital punishment in 2008 following pressure from the European Union, reportedly in exchange for trade and export relaxations.