Pak army chief Raheel Sharif awards death sentence to 5 terrorists

Islamabad, May 12: Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed the death sentence to a group of five "hardcore terrorists" who were awarded the capital punishment by military courts for involvement in terrorist acts, the military said.

"These five convicts were active members of Al Qaeda," an army statement said.

They carried out an attack on a bus in the port city of Karachi in May 13 last year in which at least 46 people were killed.

They were also accused of the killing of a social worker Sabeen Mahmud in Karachi in April last year, attacks on the law enforcement agencies and Improvised Explosive Device blast near a mosque in Karachi, which killed and injured several people.

"These convicts were tried by Military Courts. The convicts admitted their offences before the trial court," the statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations said.

The army courts were set up after the terrorist attack on an army school in December 2014 for the speedy trial of the terrorism-related accused.

IANS