- Taliban gunmen attacked a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 135 people, over 100 of them children.
- The school was run by the Pakistani army and most of the students were the children of army personnel.
- A Taliban spokesman said that they had selected the school as a target because, he claimed, the army was targeting militants’ families. “We want them to feel the pain.”
- While the Taliban is certainly known for its brutality, and has in the past targeted children, this attack is very unusual in its scale and barbarity, making it one of Pakistan’s worst terrorist attacks in year.
Pakistani Taliban slaughters over 100 children in Peshawar school attack
How the horrifying attack happened
At 10 AM local time this morning, the Taliban attacked the Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar, Pakistan. The death toll is estimated to be at least 135 people, over 100 of whom were children. Many more are believed to have been wounded.
Reuters reports that a group of gunmen broke into the school compound and opened fire. The attackers also wore suicide vests; several explosions were heard inside the compound during the massacre. A child who escaped from the attack told reporters that he had been with a group of ten children who tried to run and hide from the attackers, but that all of the others with him had been murdered. Other children told the BBC that they had seen students lying dead in the corridors of the school.
The Pakistani army responded to the attack in force. After a siege that lasted several hours, they announced that the firefight was over, and all of the militants had been killed.
The school is run by the Pakistani army and most of the students there are children of Pakistani military personnel. Students at the school range from grades one to 10. A local hospital told Reuters that the dead and wounded were mostly between 10 and 20 years old.
Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani said that the Taliban had targeted the army's school "because the government is targeting our families and females," and that "we want them to feel the pain."
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