Pakistan confirms death sentence for 9 militants

Pakistan's army on Monday announced the death penalty for nine hardline militants linked to a series of terrorist attacks across the country.
The men were convicted by military courts established as part of a crackdown on militancy following a massacre at a school in the northwest city of Peshawar on December 16 last year, in which more than 150 people, mostly children, were killed.
Parliament approved the use of the courts for the next two years, and the Supreme Court endorsed the move last month, rejecting claims it was unconstitutional.
"The army chief confirms death sentence of nine hard core terrorists involved in killing civilians/law enforcement agencies personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and sectarian killings," in southwestern Baluchistan province, military spokesperson Major General Asim Bajwa said in a
brief tweet.
The militants were also involved in several other incidents including attacks on senior army officials and a mosque in the northwestern city of Nowshera.
"One terrorist [was] awarded life imprisonment," Bajwa said but did not disclose the convicted person's name or other details.
The army announced the first verdicts and sentences from the new courts in April when six militants were condemned to death and another jailed for life, all on terrorism charges.
On August 13, it announced death sentences for seven more militants for their involvement in the Peshawar school massacre and an attack on a bus carrying members of the minority Shi'ite Ismaili community.