The Taliban is claiming responsibility for storming a military-run school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar today, killing over 130 people and at least 84 students.
"We selected the army's school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females," Pakistani Taliban (TTP) spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani told Reuters. "We want them to feel the pain."
Khorasani told reporters earlier today: "Around six suicide bombers entered the school and we are in contact with them. We have asked them not to kill minor children."
Regional officials are now saying that 135 people have died in total and 114 have been injured. While the army managed to evacuate a large number of the 500 students and staff, an operation to clear the school lasted for several hours and several explosions were reported.
Officials have said that the siege has now finished, but forces are still sweeping the area for possible explosives. Army spokesman Asim Bajwa tweeted that six terrorists have been killed and that 11 staff members have been rescued by Pakistani special operations troops.
Pervez Khattak, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which includes Peshawar, said that most of the student victims were between the ages of 12 and 16.
The TTP gunmen entered the building at 10am local time on Tuesday morning and began shooting at random, according to police officer Javed Khan. Initial reports suggested the militants were wearing military uniforms but one student told Pakistan's Dunya TV: "The attackers had long beards, wore shalwar kameez and spoke Arabic."
Mudassir Awan, a worker at the school, said: "As soon as the firing started, we ran to our classrooms... They were entering every class and they were killing the children."
Another witness told Dawn News: "Later, army personnel ushered us out. While we were being moved out, we saw bodies of our classmates lying in the corridors."
Medical facilities in the region have been flooded with victims, and hospitals in Peshawar put out appeals for blood donations.
Naeem Khan, a student and youth activist, told VICE News he heard about the attack on TV and immediately went to his nearest hospital to give blood.
He explained that the Combined Military Hospital is packed: "So many people are coming here to donate blood… A very lot of young people, from communities, colleges, and the public, I can even see a former minister of information, he also is donating blood."
Khan also told VICE News that there is a lot of fear in Peshawar. "It is very intense. We cannot explain the situation because little school children were attacked in their school. I have no words to explain the situation." He added, however, that he trusts the army to respond appropriately.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a three-day mourning period, and traveled to the Peshawar region to oversee a response to the attacks.
"I can't stay back in Islamabad. This is a national tragedy unleashed by savages. These were my kids," Sharif said in a statement. "This is my loss. This is the nation's loss. I am leaving for Peshawar now and I will supervise this operation myself."
His counterpart in India, Narendra Modi, tweeted his condolences and strongly condemned what he described as a "cowardly terrorist attack."
Indian children's rights advocate and joint 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kailash Satyarthi, described the events as marking "one of the darkest days of humanity." news.vice.com
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