Pakistan Targets Militants After School Massacre
Pakistani officials say jets and ground forces have killed 58 militants days after Taliban fighters attacked a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 149 people, mostly children.
As Pakistan began a third day of mourning, the troops ambushed and killed at least 50 militants in Khyber near the Afghan border. Another eight were killed in southwestern Baluchistan province, including a senior Taliban commander.
The massacre at the military-run school in Peshawar Tuesday shocked the world and prompted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to lift a moratorium on the death penalty.
On Thursday, the head of Pakistan's military signed the death warrants for six “hard-core terrorists.”
The army did not release the names of the convicts and local media reported they would only be identified after their death.
The warrants cannot be appealed, and the prisoners are expected to be hanged within days.
The convicts are said to be linked to attacks including a militant raid on the Pakistan military headquarters in Rawalpindi and assassination attempts against former President Pervez Musharraf.
Human rights advocacy groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Mr. Sharif's decision. Amnesty called it a "a knee-jerk reaction which does not get at the heart of the problem."