Pakistan executes militants linked to school massacre of 151 people by Taliban
The army has put the final toll at 151 killed, 134 of them children.
The two officials said the men were executed at a high-security prison in the northwestern city of Kohat.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media.
The four are the first convicted militants to be executed in connection with the school massacre.
The December 16 attack, which was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, horrified the country and led the government to lift a 2008 moratorium on the death penalty.
However, most of the nearly 300 people hanged since then have been convicted criminals, not militants.
Parents of children killed in the assault welcomed the executions and demanded that all those connected to the attack be given the same punishment.
“Today’s executions cannot return my son to us, but I am happy to know that at least four terrorists have been hanged for their role in the killing of our children,” said a woman who identified herself only as the wife of Arshad Zafar, in keeping with local custom.
She praised the military for trying, convicting and hanging them ahead of the anniversary of the attack.
Malik Tahir Awan, who lost his son in the attack, said “all those who played any role in the attack on Army Public School should be hanged.”
“December 16 is not far away, and that was the day when I lost my son. I shall never be able to forget this pain,” he told Associated Press.
But some fathers of the victims who gathered in Peshawar yesterday said the hangings should have been carried out in public squares.
“All the nation wanted to see these animals hanged publicly so others would not dare follow their example,” said Abid Raza Bangash, an engineer whose 15-year-old son Rafique Raza Bangash was killed.
A Kohat police official named the militants as Maulvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel, alias Yahya.
Their role in the massacre has not been made public.
The gunmen were all reported killed by security forces.
“The rest should be caught too, no one should be spared,” said survivor Waheed Anjum, 18.
He was hit by three bullets, one in each arm and one in his chest.
His father Momin Khan Khattak added: “They shouldn’t have been hanged from prisons, they should have been hanged from squares.”
“There is no forgiveness in our hearts after what they did to our children.”
In August, after a military trial that took place behind closed doors, the army announced that six militants linked to the Peshawar assault would be executed, while a seventh was given a life sentence.
