Pakistan to execute 12 'hardcore terrorists': army

Pakistan is to execute a dozen "hardcore terrorists" for killing civilians and troops, the army said in a statement Thursday.

It said the men were members of the Pakistani Taliban and the sectarian militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and that the 12 were tried and convicted by military courts.

Attacks on law enforcement agencies and schools were among the "heinous offences" committed by the men, the statement added.

Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts as part of a crackdown after suffering its deadliest ever extremist attack, when gunmen stormed a school in the northwest in 2014 leaving more than 150 people dead.

Rights activists have criticised a surge in hangings since the moratorium was lifted -- with Pakistan becoming the world's third most prolific executioner in 2015 -- and have complained that military trials are neither transparent nor fair.