Kids Massacred!
Few Pictures provided by their families show some of the students of the Army Public School who were killed on Tuesday in their school in Peshawar, Pakistan. Photo: AP.
Members of the Pakistani Taliban group attacked an army-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 141 people. 132 of the victims were children and nine were staff.
The Taliban group, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, said it attacked the Army Public School because the Pakistani government is “targeting their families and females.” They wanted to avenge army-led initiatives against them in the areas bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The seven gunmen scaled the school’s compound before going from class to class and firing indiscriminately at the students and teachers inside. The Pakistani army declared that the school was secured after over a nine-hour exchange, when all the militants had finally been killed. According to security forces, some of the attackers had been killed by commandos and others had blown themselves up.Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif has vowed to continue the military offensive against the Taliban in the region bordering Afghanistan until “the terrorism was rooted from the land.” And the government has declared three days of national mourning.
Countries such as India, the U.K. and the U.S. have expressed their condolences and ongoing support to Pakistan. Narendra Modi released a statement saying that “it is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed lives of the most innocent of human beings – young children in their school.”
Many of the school’s students are comprised of the children of military personnel and civilian families. Its students range in age from around 10 to 18.