Peshawar school attack: Four militants hanged

Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday hanged four militants linked to a Taliban massacre at a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar, the first time it has executed anyone convicted in the attack, which killed more than 150 people.

"Four militants involved in the attack on the APS school were hanged this morning in Kohat prison," a Peshawar security official told AFP. 

A Kohat police official named the militants as Maulvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel, alias Yahya. The army on Monday issued a black warrant confirming their executions were imminent.

The hangings were confirmed by a prison official, who said the militants had held a final meeting with their families on Tuesday night.

The hangings come nearly a year after the December 16 attack by Taliban gunmen on the army-run school in Peshawar, the country`s deadliest ever extremist attack, in which the majority of the victims were children.

The attack shocked and outraged Pakistan, already scarred by nearly a decade of unrest, and prompted a crackdown on extremism, with the establishment of military courts and the resumption of capital punishment after a six-year moratorium. 

The militants` bodies will be handed over to the families shortly, the Kohat police official said.