3 convicted militants executed

— Three militants convicted by military courts were executed in a prison in central Pakistan on Wednesday, the army announced.

The militants were associated with the outlawed Pakistani Taleban and a second extremist group named Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami, the army said in a statement. They were convicted of involvement in the killing of soldiers and police officers, it said.

The convicts identified as Said Zaman Khan, Shawaleh and Mohammed Zeeshan were tried and convicted by special military courts.

These courts were set up for two years in January 2015 and became dysfunctional from January 7, 2017. The courts were set up after a constitutional amendment following a terror attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in December 2014 that killed over 150 people, mostly students.

However, the government has introduced an amendment in the parliament to change the constitution to revive these courts for another two years.

The military court awarded death sentence to 161 militants and so far only 21 have been executed.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, gunmen intercepted the car of a bureaucrat, Abdullah Jan, in Quetta, and abducted him, according to police officer Abdur Razzaq Cheema.

No ransom or any other demand has been made yet and no one has claimed responsibility. Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, is a hotspot for both sectarian and militant groups.