Pakistan has executed four more Islamist militants since lifting a six-year moratorium on executions following a Taliban attack on a school that left nearly 150 people dead.

The four convicted prisoners were hanged Sunday at a prison in the eastern city of Faisalabad for their role in a plot to assassinate former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.

The four militants were identified as Ghulam Sarwar, Rashid Tipu, Zubair Ahmed and Akhlaq Ahmed, a Russian national.

Two others convicted in the plot, Aquil who went by one name and was also known as Dr. Usman, and Arshad Mahmood, were hanged at the jail on Friday.

Human rights group have slammed Pakistan’s decision to reinstate executions, saying this would not stop terrorism and might even feed a “cycle of revenge.”

Last week’s bloody rampage in the northwestern city of Peshawar brought promises of swift, decisive action against militants from Pakistan’s political and military leaders.  

Also Sunday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said authorities had made several arrests in the case of the Taliban school attack on Sunday. 

“Quite a few suspects who were facilitators in one way or the other have been taken into custody,” Khan said, adding that the interrogations were “moving ahead in a positive manner.”

He did not disclose the suspects’ identities or say how many people had been arrested.

Some material for this report came from Reuters, AFP and AP.
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