A deadly,
hours-long siege of a school in northwest Pakistan ended Tuesday evening with
all the Taliban militants responsible killed, at least 130 people -- most of
them children -- dead and a country once again grasping for answers after a
horrific attack.
Six suicide bombers scaled the walls of Army
Public School and Degree College in the violence-plagued city of Peshawar
around 10 a.m. (midnight ET) intent on killing older students there, according
to Mohammed Khurrassani, a spokesman for the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, or
Pakistan Taliban.
These Taliban had "300 to 400 people ...
under their custody" at one point, Khurrassani said.
Pakistani troops responded, fending off
gunfire and improvised explosive devices planted by terrorists as they went
through the compound, building by building, room by room. By 4 p.m., they had
managed to confine the attackers to four buildings, and a few hours later,
Peshawar police Chief Mohammad Aijaz Khan said that all of them were dead.
Still, the ordeal wasn't over.
Pakistani authorities continued clearing the
school in Peshawar, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the country's capital,
Islamabad, wary of planted explosives and other potential threats.
Making sure others weren't still hiding for
their safety, counting the dead and treating the wounded -- 182, according to
provincial ministers -- remained pressing tasks as well. Pictures showed
victims being treated at a nearby hospital.
In a tweet, military spokesman Gen. Asim
Bajwa called the attack a "ghastly act of cowardice in killing
innocents" that, in his view, proves that the Taliban are "not only
enemies of (Pakistan) but enemies of humanity."
"They have hit at the heart of the
nation," Bajwa said. "But ... they can't in any way diminish the will
of this great nation."
For more details click here: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/16/world/asia/pakistan-peshawar-school-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
For more details click here: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/16/world/asia/pakistan-peshawar-school-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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