Pakistan's military says it has executed five "hardcore terrorists" who were involved in attacks on army and other security personnel.

The military says the executions of the five Taliban militants, all members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, were carried out on March 8 at the District Jail Kohat in the northwestern part of the country.

Military trials of terrorism suspects were legalized in January 2015 for a two-year period amid arguments that civilian courts were too slow to deal with cases and that many judges feared becoming victims of reprisal attacks.

The courts were set up after the December 2014 Peshawar school massacre that left 147 people dead, most of them children.

But since then, the courts have been criticized for a lack of transparency and human rights abuses.

The Peshawar attack also prompted Pakistan to lift a moratorium on capital punishment.

With reporting from AP and Reuters

