Pakistan has executed 12 people in the country's largest day of executions after a nationwide ban on the death penalty was lifted.

The home minister for Punjab, Shuja Khanzada, said authorities at several different jails in the province hanged 10 prisoners who had been sentenced to death in murder cases.

The superintendent of the main jail in the southern port city of Karachi, Qazi Nazir, said prison staff had executed two people and handed their bodies to family members.

Late last year, Pakistan's prime minister lifted a moratorium on the death penalty specifically for terrorism-related cases after a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar killed 150 people in December.

Last week, in a controversial step, the government completely lifted the death penalty ban for all cases.