4 Taliban militants given death for attacking Pakistan's ISI office

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court has given death sentence to four militants of outlawed Pakistani Taliban for an attack on country's powerful spy agency ISI's office in which 15 people were killed.

The ATC-I Multan handed down the penalty to Abdul Raheem, Hafiz Suleman, Sajjad and Muhammad Afzal on 11 counts each, and 25-year imprisonment to their fifth accomplice Ijaz, yesterday.

All the five convicts belong to the banned terrorist group Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

Some 15 people were killed and more than 50 others were injured in the bomb and gun attack on the ISI office in Multan Cantonment in 2009, some 350 kilometres from here.

Country's ATCs have expedited cases as part of the government's national action plan to curb terrorism following the Peshawar school massacre in which 150 people, mostly children, were killed in December last year.

Pakistan ended its six-years-old moratorium on the death penalty in terror cases. Twelve death row prisoners involved in terror activities have been executed so far after the Nawaz Sharif-led government lifted the moratorium.