Over 80 children killed in deadly Taliban raid on Pakistan school
Residents take an injured child to hospital yesterday after a Taliban assault on a school in Pakistan yesterday. PHOTO BY AFP
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Tragic. Children among more than 120 dead in raid that Pakistani Taliban claims is retaliation for military’s North Waziristan offensive
Islamabad. Taliban gunmen killed more than 120 people, including 80 children, after storming an army-run school in restive northwest Pakistan yesterday, officials said.
The militants had been ordered to shoot older students, a Taliban spokesman said, adding the attack was revenge for a major military offensive in the region.
At least five insurgents wearing military uniforms entered the Army Public School in the city of Peshawar, a source at the school told AFP. Gunfire and explosions were heard as security forces surrounded the area.
The army said most of the school’s 500 students were evacuated. A senior military official said troops had surrounded the school and television footage showed them taking up positions.
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.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for the army’s continuing operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal area close to Peshawar.
The school on Peshawar’s Warsak Road is part of the Army Public Schools and Colleges System, which runs 146 schools nationwide for the children of military personnel and civilians.
A security official told AFP that hundreds of students and staff were in the school when the attack began, though it was not clear how many were still held by press time.
TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani told AFP there were six attackers. “This attack is a response to Zarb-e-Azab and the killing of Taliban fighters and harassing their families.”
Zarb-e-Azb is the official name for the army’s offensive against strongholds of the Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has described the attack as a “national tragedy”.
THE TIME BOMB
The tribal areas that border Afghanistan have for years been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes -- including Al-Qaeda and the homegrown TTP. Washington pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out the sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which militants have used to launch attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
