Pakistan Sentences Five To Death Over Attack On Shi'a, Rights Activist

May 12, 2016

Pakistan's military has sentenced five alleged Al-Qaeda militants to death over a deadly bus attack and the killing of a prominent rights activist last year.

The army said on May 12 that its top commander, General Raheel Sharif, had confirmed the death sentences.

It said the five men perpetrated a May 2015 attack on a bus in the southern city of Karachi in which about 45 members of the minority Ismaili community were killed.

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The military said the men were also involved in other attacks, including the killing of rights activist Sabeen Mehmud in Karachi in April 2015.

Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts after gunmen stormed a school in the northwest in 2014 in an attack that left more than 150 people dead.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP