Pakistan Taliban: Peshawar school attack leaves 141 dead Militants from the Pakistani Taliban have attacked an army-run school in Peshawar, killing 141 people, 132 of them children, the military say. Officials say the attack in the north-western city is over, with all the attackers killed. Seven militants took part in all, according to the army. Scores of survivors are being treated in hospitals as frantic parents search for news of their children. The attack - the Talibans deadliest in Pakistan - has been widely condemned. Describing the attack from his hospital bed to the BBCs Shaimaa Khalil, Shahrukh Khan, 17, said a gunman had entered his classroom and opened fire at random. As he hid under a desk, he saw his friends being shot, one in the head and one in the chest. Two teachers were also killed. A Taliban spokesman told BBC Urdu that the school, which is run by the army, had been targeted in response to military operations. Hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to have died in a recent offensive in North Waziristan and the nearby Khyber area. US President Barack Obama said terrorists had once again shown their depravity while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was an act of horror and rank cowardice. line Analysis: Aamer Ahmed Khan, BBC News This brutal attack may well be a watershed for a country long accused by the world of treating terrorists as strategic assets. Pakistans policy-makers struggling to come to grips with various shades of militants have often cited a lack of consensus and large pockets of sympathy for religious militants as a major stumbling-block. That is probably why, when army chief Gen Raheel Sharif launched what he called an indiscriminate operation earlier in the year against militant groups in Pakistans lawless tribal belt, the political response was lukewarm at best. We will get them, was his message, be they Pakistani Taliban, Punjabi Taliban, al-Qaeda and affiliates, or most importantly, the dreaded Haqqani network. But the countrys political leadership chose to remain largely silent. This is very likely to change now. Late on Tuesday, military spokesman Asim Bajwa told reporters in Peshawar that 132 children and nine members of staff had been killed. All seven of the attackers wore suicide bomb vests, he said. Scores of people were also injured. It appears the militants scaled walls to get into the school and set off a bomb at the start of the assault. Children who escaped say the militants then went from one classroom to another, shooting indiscriminately. One boy told reporters he had been with a group of 10 friends who tried to run away and hide. He was the only one to survive. Others described seeing pupils lying dead in the corridors. One local woman said her friends daughter had escaped because her clothing was covered in blood from those around her and she had lain pretending to be dead.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 08:05:38 +0000
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