Pakistani Army headquarters attack accused to be executed

Islamabad: Preparations to execute Aqeel alias Doctor Usman for attacking the Pakistan Army's headquarters in 2009 have been completed and the execution is to be carried out within next 24 hours, Dawn reported Friday.

Aqeel's meeting has been arranged with his brother, who will be taking his body after the execution at Faisalabad's Central Prison, a security source said, adding that the execution will be carried out in next 24 hours.

Eleven soldiers were killed in the Oct. 10, 2009 attack when 10 heavily armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed into the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and held off army commandos for hours.

Aqeel, who was caught injured during the militant raid on the army headquarters, was sentenced to death in 2011 by a military court which had awarded prison terms to others in the attack case.

The death warrant for Aqeel was signed by Army Chief General Raheel Sharif late Thursday night, two days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on capital punishment.

The moratorium was lifted Wednesday, a day after terrorists attacked Peshawar's Army Public School, killing 141 people, most of them children.