ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif on Monday endorsed death sentences awarded by military trial courts to nine `terrorists` associated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-i-Islam.

The convicts, according to an ISPR announcement, were found guilty of involvement in `killing of innocent civilians, slaughtering of Levies officials and attacking armed forces personnel`.

One of the convicts Sajid, son of Ibrahim Khan was sentenced for attacking a PIA passenger aircraft PK-756 while landing at Peshawar`s Bacha Khan airport on June 24, 2014. A woman passenger died in the incident.

Sajid (TTP) was also found responsi-ble for killing one Pir Israr along with his eight family members in the Badabher area of Peshawar in February 2014 in a gun-and-grenade attack on their home as well as death of law enforcement agencies (LEA) personnel.

Other TTP men, who have been given death sentences, are Javed Khan, son of Fageer Gul, for killing of civilians and the LEA men; Fazle Haq, son of Shahdad, for cutting the hands of four police personnel and killing of a civilian and policeman;Fazal Rehman, son of Fazal Karim, for an August 2008 attack in Swat on a military convoy in which Maj Ehsan and five soldiers accompanying him were killed; Umar Saeed, son of Hazrat Saeed, for an October 2008 raid on a convoy in Kabal area of Swat in which five security personnelwerekilled;andNazeerAhmed,son of Allahdad, for killing of Head Constable Muhammad Yousaf in Karachi.

Lashkar-i-Islam terrorists, who received death sentences, were Zahid Khan, son of Kitab Shah, for an attack on the Frontier Constabulary camp in Jhansi Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in 2010; Rahmat, son of Ismail Khan, and Bakht Wali, son of Amal Khan, for attacking and killing security personnel.

The military courts established through the 21st Constitutional Amendment in January 2015 for two years for speedy trial of terrorism cases have so far decided 197 cases in which 126 people have been given death sentences.

Only 12 convicts have been executed as yet, according to figures available with Dawn.