Most of those hurt in the attack are believed to be aged under 15.http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-asia-30491113
ratna_rajaiah On second thoughts. may b it is better to "condom" terrorist attacks. It will prevent more from being born
- My heart goes out to everyone who lost their loved ones today. We share their pain & offer our deepest condolences.
- It is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed lives of the most innocent of human beings - young children in their school.
- Strongly condemn the cowardly terrorist attack at a school in Peshawar.
Narendra Modi Scores killed in attack on Pakistan school | ||
Children among 126 dead in raid claimed by Pakistani Taliban, as military starts an operation on the Peshawar school.Last updated: 16 Dec 2014 11:01 | ||
The army said in a statement that many hostages had been evacuated but did not say how many [Reuters]  At least 126 people, mostly students, have died in an attack by Pakistani Taliban fighters on a military-run school in Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest, according to a senior official, as military started an ongoing operation on the compound.Pervez Khattak, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told local media that Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital had taken 24 of the dead, while the Combined Military Hospital had taken at least 60. Dozens were injured, Khattak said, when the fighters stormed the Army Public School on Tuesday morning. Several explosions have been heard coming the compound. It is thought at least four Taliban fighters had been killed in the military operation to retake the school. At least six Taliban fighters entered the school via a neighbouring graveyard, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder said. "Most of the younger pupils escaped the school, but the senior students were not so lucky," our correspondent said. "An attack on a school on this scale is unheard of, there will be serious questions asked as far as security of the school is concerned. There will be considerable anger across the country." At least 126 people, mostly students, have died in an attack by Pakistani Taliban fighters on a military-run school in Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest, according to a senior official, as military started an ongoing operation on the compound. Pervez Khattak, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told local media that Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital had taken 24 of the dead, while the Combined Military Hospital had taken at least 60. Dozens were injured, Khattak said, when the fighters stormed the Army Public School on Tuesday morning. Several explosions have been heard coming the compound. It is thought at least four Taliban fighters had been killed in the military operation to retake the school. At least six Taliban fighters entered the school via a neighbouring graveyard, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder said. "Most of the younger pupils escaped the school, but the senior students were not so lucky," our correspondent said. "An attack on a school on this scale is unheard of, there will be serious questions asked as far as security of the school is concerned. There will be considerable anger across the country." A spokesman for a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, said the attackers had been ordered to shoot older students during the raid that started on Tuesday morning. Shaukat Yousafzai, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's health minister, said a school function had been going on in the senior section of the school when an explosion went off. "The matter has largely come under control now. The operation is now complete on the students side, and has moved to the administration block of the school," he said. "There are no negotiations ongoing at the moment, there is a security forces operation ongoing. "They have been cleared from the junior section. The explosion occurred in the senior section where there was a [school] function ongoing." Hostages evacuated The armed men attacked the Army Public School where about 500 students and teachers were present, military officials said. The attack began at about 11am local time (06:00 GMT). An initial blast as the attackers hit the school was followed by a second explosion. Small-arms fire was heard throughout the raid as security forces tried to retake the school.
A heavy contingent of security forces arrived at the school shortly after the attack began and launched the rescue operation. The army said in a statement that many hostages had been evacuated but did not say how many. "Rescue operation by troops under way. Exchange of fire continues. Bulk of student(s) and staff evacuated. Reports of some children and teachers killed by terrorist," the army said in a brief English-language statement. Muhammad Khorasani, TTP spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that six suicide bombers had been sent to the school. He said the attackers had been given orders to allow the youngest students to leave but to kill the rest. The attack was in retaliation for an ongoing Pakistan Army operation against the TTP and its allies in the North Waziristan tribal area, Khorasani said. The TTP said many of their family members had been killed in the campaign, and said the attack on the school was in revenge for those deaths. "Many TTP members have lost their family members and they have said they want to inflict pain," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder said. "But many ordinary people put their children in military schools because of the relatively higher standard of education, so normal people have been hit as well by this." The Pakistani military began Operation Zarb-e-Azb against the TTP and its allies on June 15, and says that it has so far retaken larges areas of territory from the group, killing more than 1,270. The army is also carrying out a military operation in Khyber Agency, which borders Peshawar, where it says it has killed at least 179 fighters. "This is a soft target. No one would expect a school to be attacked and children would be involved," our correspondent said. "This will only strengthen the public's resolve to carry on supporting the army." Asad Hashim contributed to this report from Islamabad. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/12/fighters-attack-army-run-school-pakistan-20141216742794184.html  Scores Killed in Taliban Attack on SchoolMohammad Sajjad/Associated Press ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In one of Pakistan’s bloodiest attacks in recent years, scores of people were killed after a group of Taliban gunmen stormed a school in northwestern Pakistan, officials and rescue workers said on Tuesday. Hundreds of students remained trapped inside the compound as security forces exchanged fire with the gunmen, officials said. The toll of dead and injured remained uncertain, but a regional official said that as many as 100 had been killed and 80 wounded in the attack, most of them students. The siege started Tuesday morning around 10 a.m. when at least five to six heavily armed Taliban gunmen entered Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. According to initial reports, the gunmen opened fire on students and have taken dozens of them as hostages. Some students managed to escape the school compound, the local news media reported. The gunmen entered the school after scaling a wall at the rear of the main school building. They opened fire and took dozens of students hostage in the main auditorium of the building, the news media reported. Local television news networks broadcast images of panic-stricken students, wearing the school uniform of green sweaters and blazers, being evacuated from the school compound. The wounded have been taken to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where a state of emergency has been declared. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has left the capital, Islamabad, for Peshawar, state-run news media reported, saying he would personally supervise the operation against the militants. A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was in retaliation to the military’s offensive against militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal region. Pakistani military carried out an offensive, “Operation Zab-e-Azb,” in June and have claimed to have cleared 90 percent of the restive region that has long been a redoubt of local and foreign militants. Pervez Khattak, the chief minister of the province, said that as many as 100 teenage students have been killed, while 83 were wounded in the attack. Mr. Khattak said the gunmen were wearing the uniforms of a paramilitary force and were armed with suicide vests. |
