At least 141 people have been killed, 132 of them whom are children, after Taliban gunmen stormed a military school in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar.
AFP reports that, the attack started with the gunmen entering the 500-pupil school – which has students in grades 1-10, thought to be ages 5 to 14 – in the early hours and shooting at random, said police officer Javed Khan.
Army commandos quickly arrived at the scene and exchanged fire with the gunmen, he added.
Mohammad Khorasani, the spokesman for Pakistani’s Taliban Fazal Ullah group, accepted responsibility for the attack.
He said: ‘It’s a gift for those who thought they have crushed us in their so called military operation in North Waziristan.
‘They [the Pakistani military] were always wrong about our capabilities, We are still able to carry out major attacks. Today was just the trailer.
‘Six of our Mujahideen, including three suicide bombers took part in this attack and with the grace of almighty they all executed the plan very accurately.’
Pakistani officials say the attack is now over, with all of the attackers killed. A total of seven militants took part, according to the army.
Scores of survivors are being treated in hospitals as frantic parents search for news of their children.
The attack is the deadliest ever by the Taliban in Pakistan.
There has been chaos outside hospital units to which casualties were taken, the BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil reports from Peshawar.
Bodies have been carried out of hospitals in coffins, escorted by crowds of mourners, some of them visibly distraught.
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.
Credits: BBC || AFP