Pakistan has executed seven convicted militants, raising to 16 the number of people who have been executed since the country lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty last month, officials say.
The executions were carried out on Tuesday morning amid tight security, officials in four Pakistani jails noted.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium following a militant attack on a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
On December 16, 2014, a group of pro-Taliban militants stormed an army-run school in Peshawar and killed about 150 people, including 132 students. Some 120 students were also injured in the raid.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants claimed responsibility for the assault, saying it was carried out in retaliation for the Pakistani army’s major military offensive in the North Waziristan tribal area which borders Afghanistan.
The Pakistani army started an operation against militant hideouts in North Waziristan last June after a deadly raid on Karachi Airport ended the government’s faltering peace talks with pro-Taliban militants.
