Pakistan executes hardcore terrorist: Army

Pakistan on Thursday hanged a “hardcore terrorist’’ who was involved in committing heinous offenses. related to terrorism, the Pakistani military said.

Tahir, an active member of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, was involved in a jail break in the northwestern Bannu district in April in 2012, and attacks on security forces.

Heavily armed Taliban militants had attacked the prison and released over 350 prisoners and mostly of them were militants.

An army statement by its media wing the Inter-Services Public Relation said that Tahir was convicted by a military court and was sent to gallows in District Jail Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

The statement said the militant had admitted his offenses before the magistrate and the trial court.

This is the third execution this month in terrorism-related cases.

Three hardcore terrorists were executed on March 15 while five were hanged in Kohar jail on March 8.

The latest execution came just days after both houses of the parliament approved revival of the military courts for two more years.

The two-year period of the courts expired in January this year and the government succeeded to win the support of the major opposition parties to amend the constitution for the revival of the courts.

The military courts were established for speedy trials of terrorists after the deadliest attack on an army public school in Peshawar in December 2014.

Nearly 150 people, mostly students, were killed in the Taliban claimed attack.

The army said this month that the military courts have so far awarded death sentence to a total of 161 terrorists and 21 of them have been executed.