Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Video - Survivors Recount Pakistan School Attack
Witnesses described the scene on Tuesday in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan after at least 145 people were killed in a Taliban attack on a school.
Mehr Tarar, a former op-ed editor for Pakistan's Daily Times, captured the heartbreak of many Pakistanis in a column for Indian news portal NDTV:
Today, I feel as if I have been punched in my stomach. In my heart. And in my soul. With an iron rod. As I hear of children who were killed in an Army school in Peshawar, I feel my heart stopping.Children were shot in the face. Children were shot in the head. Children were dragged out from under the chairs, under the tables, and shot. At point blank. Methodically. Coldly. Clinically. They – who go by the name of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan – say it is to avenge the Army operation against them in the FATA. To avenge the deaths of militants who were wreaking havoc on innocent Pakistanis in myriad acts of terror. It's retribution, they say.I have nothing to say here. You call yourself a Muslim, you call your fight a jihad, you call your way that of Allah. And yet you do what Allah forbids you to do: to perpetrate a war in His name where you kill children. Where you kill people who have never harmed you. You are not just Pakistan's enemy but you are also your own worst enemy.
Carnage in Peshawar - A special kind of evil
This isn’t the first large-scale terrorist attack against children — Ingush and Chechen jihadists from the Riyadus-Salikhin killed 156 at Beslan 10 years ago this September. In Pakistan, thousands have died in bombings targeted at people who did no wrong, bar worshipping the “wrong” god, or being born the “wrong” gender, or just happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There is no horror too large, it seems, for terrorists who have taught themselves to believe that god has willed them to kill. For years, Pakistan’s military establishment first patronised the jihadists who are now tearing the country apart, and then sought accommodation with them. Finding that its effort at appeasement achieved little, the army finally went to war against some jihadists in their North Waziristan strongholds. The country is now facing the storm winds the offensive stirred up.
Like all terrorist strikes, the carnage in Peshawar wasn’t mindless. The bullets carried a message for Pakistan’s people: that the army’s growing war against the hardline Tehreek-e-Taliban will bring with it unacceptable costs. For weeks now, hardline Taliban factions, some linked to al-Qaeda, have raged against what they say are large-scale human rights violations by the Pakistan army, and vowed vengeance.
The army, the terrorist commanders who ordered the attack hope to demonstrate, is incapable of defending its own, let alone civil society. In the short term, both the military and the public may respond with rage, but pressure will inevitably mount to buy peace, and that will be the Pakistan government’s acid test. In the past, these pressures have led some political forces in Pakistan to blame India for the terrorism that now afflicts the country. Hopefully, wisdom will be demonstrated now. It is time to mourn, then, but also to act. The war against religious terror in this region has only one way to go — forward. For, on either side is the abyss.
Russia condemns attack on school in Peshawar
Pakistan responds to Peshawar school massacre with strikes on Taliban
Jon Boone in Peshawar and Ewen MacAskill
At least 141 dead – including 132 children – after attackers storm school, shoot students and fight with commandosThe Pakistan military has launched massive air strikes in its remote border region against the Taliban in retaliation for the massacre in a Peshawar school on Tuesday morning that left at least 141 dead, 132 of them children. The attack in Peshawar was one of the most horrific incidents in the country’s troubled history of the last decade, prompting an outcry at home and abroad – mainly because so many children were killed. The assault began on Tuesday morning when seven attackers dressed in army uniform and wearing suicide vests stormed the school, which is attended almost exclusively by the children of army personnel. Witnesses described the attackers shooting students at random and taking others hostage. Firefights with Pakistan commandos continued for four to five hours before the school was cleared and the last of the attackers killed. Pakistan’s major general, Asim Salim, said 960 students and staff were rescued. The Pakistan Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in revenge for a ferocious army offensive – named Zarb-e-Azb - that has been underway in tribal areas since June. “We selected the army’s school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females,” said Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani. “We want them to feel the pain.” Pakistan’s army chief of staff, General Raheel Shariff, said in a tweet that “massive air strikes” had been carried out in the Khyber region as the school was being cleared of attackers. Before leaving the capital of Islamabad for Peshawar, which is close to the Afghanistan border and has long had a reputation for lawlessness and terrorist incidents, Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, described the massacre as “a national tragedy”. He added: “The government together with the army has started Zarb-e-Azb and it will continue until the terrorism is rooted out from our land.” Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, formerly the North-West Frontier, have seen many terrorist incidents, often occurring out of sight of the media. But the Peshawar massacre has seen regional rivals join to express sympathy and support for the victims. The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, described the attack as cowardly, adding: “It is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed lives of the most innocent of human beings – young children in their school.” The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, who is engaged in a struggle with the Afghanistan Taliban, also condemned the massacre, saying “the killing of innocent children is contrary to Islam”. The Nobel Peace prize-winner, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban two years ago for speaking out in favour of education for girls, said the Peshawar attack had left her heartbroken. “Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this.” Hundreds of students were in the school when the attack began mid-morning, between 10 and 11am local time. Salim said the attacks used a ladder to cross the school walls from a graveyard behind the school. Ali Khan, a local police official, said: “One of them blew himself up as soon as the guards came to capture them. The others started moving towards classes and the principal’s room. “This is an upper middle-class area and most of the children belong to army families.” A student who was in the school at the time of the attack told local media: “The gunmen entered class by class and shot some kids one by one.” Commandos arrived at the scene soon after the shooting began. Military helicopter gunships hovered above but were unable to open fire for fear of hitting the hostages. Fighting continued for more than five hours after the attack began. Police were struggling to hold back distraught parents trying to break through a cordon to reach the school when there were three loud explosions after 3.30pm. A police official in Peshawar told the Guardian that 104 children had been killed and 100 injured. “Some of the injured are critical so the death toll could rise,” he said. Later, Salim, the Pakistani general, said that 141 had died – 132 children and nine members of staff. Dr Abdul Wahab, head of the emergency department at Lady Reading hospital, which made an appeal for blood, said 26 bodies had been brought in, most of them children, and about 100 injured, again mostly children, wounded by bullets or shrapnel. Wounded student Abdullah Jamal told the Associated Press he was getting first-aid instructions and training with a team of Pakistani army medics when the attack began. Jamal, who was shot in the leg, said no one knew what was going on in the first few seconds. “Then I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell down. I learned later that I have got a bullet,” he said, speaking from his hospital bed. Waqar-Ullah Khattack, one of four invigilators at an exam for 61 students aged 14-16 in the school, said he and his colleagues told the students to get down on the floor as soon as they heard firing from an AK-47 and blasts from grenades. Given the number of terror attacks in the city, he said they had been trained for such an eventuality. Less than an hour after hitting the floor, they were led to safety by commandos, walking past the bodies of at least seven children. “I have no words for this type of terrorism because we are all just too mentally upset,” Khattack said. Mudassar Abbas, a physics laboratory assistant at the school, said some students were having a celebration party when the attack began. “I saw six or seven people walking class to class and opening fire on children,” he said. A student who survived the attack said soldiers came to rescue students during a lull in the firing. “When we were coming out of the class we saw dead bodies of our friends lying in the corridors. They were bleeding. Some were shot three times, some four times,” the student said. “The men entered the rooms one by one and started indiscriminate firing at the staff and students.” Tehreek-e-Taliban is allied to the Afghanistan Taliban, sharing similar aims regarding the establishment of sharia law and opposition to the US but, unlike the Afghanistan Taliban, regards the Pakistan government as a target. The Pakistan army has been carrying out a major offensive in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, home to Tehreek-e-Taliban, since June, after an attack on the international airport in Karachi. Hundreds have been killed in the FATA and tens of thousands displaced.
UN chief condemns Peshawar school attack as ‘act of horror’
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned on Tuesday a Taliban attack on a Pakistani school that left at least 141 dead, most of them students.
“It is an act of horror and rank cowardice to attack defenseless children while they learn,” Ban said at the start of a UN Security Council meeting.
“The hearts of the world go out to the parents and families who have lost loved ones.”
Taliban insurgents stormed the army-run school in Peshawar on Tuesday, going from classroom to classroom shooting children, some as young as 12, in one of Pakistan's bloodiest ever attacks.
Speaking in a solemn tone, Ban began his address to a council meeting on peacekeeping with the statement condemning what he termed the “blood-curdling attack” in Pakistan.
“I condemn this heinous attack in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
“No cause can justify such brutality. No grievance can excuse such horror. Schools must be safe and secure learning spaces. Getting an education is every child's right. Going to school should not be an act of bravery.”
Ban expressed UN support for the Pakistani government's efforts to fight terrorism and extremism, and urged Islamabad to make every effort to track down those responsible for the carnage.
The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it revenge for a major military offensive in the region.
TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani said Tuesday's assault was carried out to avenge Taliban fighters and their families killed in the army's offensive against militant strongholds in North Waziristan. The military has hailed the operation as a major success in disrupting the TTP's insurgency.
Pakistan - Former President Zardari describes militants as Bokoharam of Pakistan
http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/
Former President Asif Ali Zardari has denounced the militants’ attack on the school in Peshawar killing over 130 innocent children as ‘most barbaric, atrocious and inhuman that will hang the heads of every civilized person in any age and any clime’.
In a statement denouncing the incident the former President said the Bokoharam of Pakistan striking in the fashion of their kinsmen in Africa on Tuesday morning in Peshawar by targeting school children is a dark day in the history of this country. The crime has been committed on a dark day of our history when Pakistan was dismembered this day in 1971, he said.
The monstrous cruelty and sheer barbarism together with the symbolism of perpetrating it today should open the eyes of all those who give the nation lectures that the exterminated militants are ‘martyrs in the cause of a noble fight’.
Let there be no doubt or mistake that the religious extremists and fanatics are the worst enemies of the country and its people. There is no alternative to fight them to the finish for the very survival of Pakistan and our future generations. The absence of alternative to fighting the monster must make the mind of every self proclaimed puritan very clear, the former President said.
Mr. Zardari said that this incident should also strengthen the resolve of the nation to stand together against this existential threat to the security and stability of the country. ‘Let us be clear’, the former President said, adding also, ‘the enemy is not external but internal; it lives and thrives in our midst and is nurtured and sustained in the name of religion’.
Expressing profound condolences the former President prayed for eternal rest to all the martyred, early recovery of those injured and patience to the bereaved families.
Mr. Asif Ali Zardari also directed the Party leaders to suspend all activities and immediately mount efforts aimed at relief and rehabilitation of the victim families. He also called upon the Party workers to visit the hospitals and donate blood to those injured.
On this occasion let it also be said that the whole nation stands behind the law enforcing agencies in the ongoing operation against the militants and salutes the sacrifices, courage and determination of our armed forces and the courage and resilience of the people.
Nation and Political leadership should forget ther difference and its time to be united and fight together against these extremists, he said. We need to have only one agenda now for the sake of our country and if we will not do this than they will keep killings us like this so we need to be together as a nation. Mr Zardari said that our children are getting Martyred and now we can’t sit and only condemn these incidents. As a politician it’s our duty to bring the whole nation together so that we can fight together.
President Obama: Pakistan attack shows Taliban 'depravity'
By Kevin Liptak
The school attack that left more than one hundred children dead in Pakistan demonstrates the "depravity" of the terrorists responsible, President Barack Obama said in a statement Tuesday.
Condemning the school siege in Peshawar, Obama said that "By targeting students and teachers in this heinous attack, terrorists have once again shown their depravity."
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, their families, and loved ones," Obama wrote, adding later the U.S. government was committed to working with Pakistan to combat terrorists.
Taliban militants massacred at least 126 people -- mostly children -- at the Army Public School in the northwest part of Pakistan on Tuesday, the worst terror attack in the country since 2007.
The U.S. has worked to combat militants in the country though unmanned drones, a program which ramped up under Obama.
Pakistan school siege ends, all six militants killed, police say
A bloody assault launched by the Pakistani Taliban on a school in Peshawar that left at least 130 people dead – most of them students – has now ended and all six attackers have been killed, police said on Tuesday.
The assault on the army-run school in the northwest city of Peshawar killed at least 130 people, most of them students but also some teachers, according to officials.
"The combat operation is over, the security personnel are carrying out a clearance operation and hopefully they will clear the building in a while," police official Abdullah Khan told AFP.
"Dead bodies of six terrorists have been found in the building," Khan said.
The Pakistani Taliban had said they sent six gunmen with suicide vests into the building.
Senior police official Shafqat Malik confirmed that the combat phase of the operation was over, while chief army spokesman General Asim Bajwa said on Twitter that the operation was "closing up".
Bajwa said improvised explosive devices planted in the school buildings by the militants were slowing cleanup efforts.
Special forces soldiers had rescued more than a dozen staff and students, Bajwa said. The Army Public School is attended by boys and girls from both military and civilian backgrounds.
‘We want them to feel the pain’
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the assault, describing it as a “national tragedy” before rushing to Peshawar in a show of support for the victims.
The attack began in the morning hours, when at least six Taliban gunmen entered the school. An estimated 500 students and teachers were believed to be in the building at the time.
Troops quickly arrived at the scene, where heavy gunfire could be heard. Helicopters hovered overhead and ambulances ferried wounded students to the hospital as terrified parents searched for their children.
“My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,” wailed one parent, Tahir Ali, as he came to the hospital to collect the body of his 14-year-old son, Abdullah. “My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.”
The Pakistani Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had stormed the school because they wanted revenge for the Pakistani military targeting their own families.
"We selected the army's school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females," said Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani. "We want them to feel the pain."
The Taliban, who are fighting to topple the government and set up a strict Islamic state, have vowed to step up attacks against Pakistani targets in response to a major army operation against the insurgents in the tribal areas.
Peshawar has been the target of frequent militant attacks in the past. In September last year dozens of people, including many children, were killed in an attack on a church there. Recently, however, the city has been relatively calm.
Children ‘crying and screaming’
Speaking from his bed in the trauma ward of the city's Lady Reading Hospital, Shahrukh Khan, 16, said he and his classmates were in a career guidance session in the school auditorium when four gunmen wearing paramilitary uniforms burst in.
"Someone screamed at us to get down and hide below the desks," he said, adding that the gunmen shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) before opening fire.
"Then one of them shouted: 'There are so many children beneath the benches, go and get them'," Khan told AFP.
"I saw a pair of big black boots coming towards me, this guy was probably hunting for students hiding beneath the benches."
Khan said he felt searing pain as he was shot in both his legs just below the knee.
He decided to play dead, adding: "I folded my tie and pushed it into my mouth so that I wouldn't scream.
"The man with big boots kept on looking for students and pumping bullets into their bodies. I lay as still as I could and closed my eyes, waiting to get shot again.
Another student wounded in the attack, Abdullah Jamal, said that he was with a group of older children who were getting first-aid training with a team of Pakistani army medics when the attack began.
When the shooting started, Jamal, who was hit in the leg, said nobody knew what was going on in the first few seconds.
“Then I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell down. I learned later that I [was shot],” he said, speaking from his hospital bed.
Another student, Amir Mateen, said they locked the doors from the inside when they heard gunfire, but that the attackers blasted through the door anyway and began shooting.
Malala condemns school atrocity
Education campaigner and Nobel peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban in 2012, has condemned the "atrocious and cowardly" attack on a school in Pakistan.
The teenager joined a stream of Western politicians and campaigners in criticising the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for opening fire on the Army Public School in the city of Peshawar. The attack has taken the lives of at least 126 people, the majority of whom are thought to be children.
In a statement, the 17-year-old said: "I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us.
"Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this.
"I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts and stand united with the government and armed forces of Pakistan whose efforts so far to address this horrific event are commendable.
"I, along with millions of others around the world, mourn these children, my brothers and sisters - but we will never be defeated."
Prime Minister David Cameron described the scenes as "horrifying", while Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was "appalling" that schoolchildren should be targeted.
A Pakistani military source told US TV network NBC that at least 10 attackers wearing police uniforms and suicide vests stormed the army-run school this morning. The gunmen were reported to have fired at random inside the school before the building was surrounded by Pakistani troops, who exchanged fire with the militants.
The source said: "They burnt a teacher in front of the students in a classroom.
"They literally set the teacher on fire with gasoline and made the kids watch."
Most of the school's 500 children are understood to have been evacuated, but many were being held hostage in the building.
Mr Cameron said: "The news from Pakistan is deeply shocking. It's horrifying that children are being killed simply for going to school."
Mr Miliband added his voice to the outrage, saying: "Devastating news from Pakistan. Appalling that schoolchildren were targeted in this murderous attack. My thoughts are with those affected."
Gunfire and explosions were heard shortly after the militants entered the school at around 10am local time (5am UK time). A number of teachers and a member of the security forces were believed to be among those killed.
The school is sited on the edge of a military cantonment in the city of Peshawar, and some of the pupils are thought to be the children of members of the armed forces.
Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurasani said six suicide bombers had carried out the attack in revenge for the killing of Taliban members by Pakistani forces.
"We targeted the school because the army targets our families. We want them to feel our pain," said a Taliban spokesman.
Hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to have died in a recent military offensive in Waziristan and the Khyber region.
Nigel Inskter, a British former MI6 assistant chief, said the bloody attack could be the first of several "revenge" hits by Taliban fighters.
He said: "It is an attack of revenge, and there is possibly more where this came from."
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who described the attack as a "national tragedy", told reporters in Peshawar: "I feel that until and unless this country is cleansed from terrorism, this war and effort will not stop, no-one should be doubtful of this.
"Such attacks are expected in the wake of a war and the country should not lose its strength."
News images of the aftermath of the attack showed boys in blood-soaked school uniforms with green blazers being carried from the scene.
Police officer Javed Khan said army commandos quickly arrived at the school and exchanged fire with the gunmen.
Pakistani television showed soldiers surrounding the area and pushing people back.
One of the wounded students, Abdullah Jamal, was shot in the leg during a first-aid class.
"I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming," he said. "I also fell down. I learned later that I have got a bullet. All the children had bullet wounds. All the children were bleeding."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he was "shocked and appalled by the unimaginable horror taking place in Pakistan" while Philip Barton, the British high commissioner to Pakistan, wrote: " Deeply saddened by the appalling Peshawar attack. My heartfelt thoughts are with the victims and their families."
Politician and former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan said: "Shocked at attack on school in Peshawar. Strongly condemn this inhuman act of utter barbarism."
Former prime minister Gordon Brown, who has campaigned for security in schools in his role as United Nations special envoy for global education, said: "The whole world will be shocked and heartbroken at the massacre in Peshawar that has destroyed so many innocent young lives.
"We must remain resolute in saying that no terrorist group can at any time ever justify denying children the right to an education and we will do everything in our power to support the Pakistan authorities and make sure their schools are safe and protected.
"It has never been acceptable for schools to be places of conflict and for children to be subject to violence simply because they want to learn. Education is opportunity and hope for building nations.
"Too often innocent girls and boys have become targets for terrorists who want to deny children the right to education and schools have become theatres of war.
"No one has the right to deny a boy or girl their education and we will stand alongside the parents and the children against the Taliban's refusal to recognise every child has the right to education."
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter: "Strongly condemn the cowardly terrorist attack at a school in Peshawar.
"It is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed lives of the most innocent of human beings - young children in their school.
"My heart goes out to everyone who lost their loved ones today. We share their pain and offer our deepest condolences."
Peshawar is a city of more than three million people situated in the north west of Pakistan, close to the Khyber Pass crossing into Afghanistan.
Over the decades since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, it has housed many thousands of refugees seeking to escape unrest in its troubled neighbour, and it has been used as a base by Afghan fighters.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province of which Peshawar is the capital, has been a focus of the struggle between the authorities and the Pakistani Taliban, and the city has been the scene of a string of militant murders, abductions and bombings, most notably a 2009 car bomb which killed 137.
Former Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi expressed "utter condemnation for this barbaric targeting of children".
"My thoughts and prayers are with the families in Pakistan who today mourn the death of their loved ones," she said.
"Terrorism in Pakistan will only be defeated if politicians, army and intelligence services are prepared to work together to the same agenda."
Labour MP for Glasgow Central Anas Sarwar, whose father Mohammad is governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, said: "Heartbreaking news from Pakistan. Reminds us what we take for granted every day - the right to send our kids to school to learn with no fear."
Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi described the "gut-wrenching" scenes as "an utterly barbaric and inhumane attack on innocent children".
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the UK-based Ramadhan Foundation, condemned the "brutal and evil" assault as "an attack against all Pakistanis" and "an affront to Islam".
"I urge Pakistani political parties to postpone their protests and stand with the victims and their families," said Mr Shafiq. "Terrorism is a cancer within Pakistan and needs to be removed permanently.
"As a parent, I cannot imagine what the parents are going through, they remain in my prayers and hearts. There is no justification for this barbarism and we as Muslims reject these utterly heartless people. We urge all Pakistanis to unite against the Taliban and all terrorist groups."
The leader of Pakistan's MQM party, Altaf Hussain, said: "Words are not enough to express our grief and condemn this heinous attack. Our prayers and wishes are with the teachers, children and their families.
"I call upon the authorities to take all necessary action to bring the perpetrators of the abhorrent attack to justice."
Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, Khalid Mahmood, said that Britain and other western powers should rethink their support for Pakistan's government, which he said had let down its people by losing control of parts of the country.
Mr Mahmood said UK aid should be redirected away from the authorities to non-governmental organisations, in order to avoid it being lost through incompetence and corruption.
Condemning the school attack as "total and utter barbarity and cruelty" that could not be justified either on religious grounds or in terms of retaliation for Pakistani military actions, Mr Mahmood said: "There are real issues for the government and people of Pakistan to look at.
"Over the last six to nine months, there has been total disarray in the national government ... There is no protection for these people. They ought to have control in a place like Peshawar. Not to be in control is an absolute abdication of responsibility.
"It is the responsibility of a government to get its structures in order and at the moment they are not in order, and while that situation exists, it is ludicrous for the UK and US to go on supporting this so-called democratic government in this way. They are not fit for purpose to run a country like Pakistan."
Death toll in Peshawar school attack passes 132
At least 132 people lost their lives, mostly young students, and dozens others injured when militants stormed an army-run school situated on Warsak Road in Peshawar Tuesday.
Five or six militants wearing military uniforms made their way into the Army Public School, a source at the school told.
"There has been an incident of firing at Army Public School in Peshawar. Troops have cordoned off the area and (are) searching for the militants," a senior military official told.
The militants took students and teachers hostage while exchange of fire between the militants and security forces is underway. A senior police official said a "huge blast" had occurred inside the building.
The military sources said a "rescue operation" was underway and the bulk of staff and students had been evacuated.
Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak told the media that 126 people including 122 students were killed in the attack.
"The terrorists entered the school wearing FC personnel uniform," he said.
He told that 23 bodies were brought to the Lady Reading Hospital while over 100 in Combined Military Hospital (CMH). Emergency has been declared in the Peshawar hospital.
The security sources told that three militants were also killed during the rescue operation while one blew himself in a blast.
Warsak Road was closed for all sorts of traffic while a vehicle was also set ablaze by the militants on the road.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif left for Peshawar to supervise the ongoing rescue operation against Taliban.
He said that he can’t sit and wait in Islamabad, therefore, he is heading to Peshawar to supervise the operation.
The attack comes as the military wages a major offensive against Taliban and other militants in the tribal area of North Waziristan.
TTP claims attack
A spokesman for a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the gunmen had been ordered to shoot older students but not children.
TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani told there were six attackers.
"They include target killers and suicide attackers. They have been ordered to shoot the older students but not the children," he said.
Pakistan: PPP Punjab S Media to organize protest tomorrow against Peshawar attack in front of press club Lahore
Pakistan peoples Party S Media Punjab has strongly condemned the barbaric attack on a school in Peshawar in which at least 124 children were killed, saying this dastardly and inhuman attack on innocent children expose the real face of terrorism.
In a meeting chaired by head S Media Ms Jahanara M Wattoo has strongly condemned the attack on a school in Peshawar and also two-minute silence was observed.
Ms. Jahanara M Wattoo has said in her speech, there was no option except to battle terrorism in the country, and the only party standing against terrorism was the PPP with clear-cut stance.
In a meeting it was decided that the PPP Punjab S Media will organize a candlelight vigil and peaceful protest in front of press club Lahore at 3pm against the terrorism.
Junaid Qaiser, Ali Asghar Awan, Syed Ahsan Abbas Rizvi, Mirza Awais Baig, Mujtaba Wattoo, Zahid Anwar, Aamir Sohail Butt, Mujtaba Subhani and Mian Hassan Yar Watto also spoke on the occasion and condemned the barbaric attack.
In a meeting chaired by head S Media Ms Jahanara M Wattoo has strongly condemned the attack on a school in Peshawar and also two-minute silence was observed.
Ms. Jahanara M Wattoo has said in her speech, there was no option except to battle terrorism in the country, and the only party standing against terrorism was the PPP with clear-cut stance.
In a meeting it was decided that the PPP Punjab S Media will organize a candlelight vigil and peaceful protest in front of press club Lahore at 3pm against the terrorism.
Junaid Qaiser, Ali Asghar Awan, Syed Ahsan Abbas Rizvi, Mirza Awais Baig, Mujtaba Wattoo, Zahid Anwar, Aamir Sohail Butt, Mujtaba Subhani and Mian Hassan Yar Watto also spoke on the occasion and condemned the barbaric attack.
http://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/ppp-punjab-s-media-to-organize-protest-tomorrow-against-peshawar-attack-in-front-of-press-club-lahore/
پېښور ښوونځي برید: تر ۱۲۰ ډېر زده کوونکي وژل شوي
http://www.mashaalradio.com/content/article/26746489.html
د وسله والو طالبانو په برید کې د وژل شوو زده کوونکو، استادانو او نورو قرباني شوو په غم کې د خېبر پښتونخوا حکومت درې ورځنی ویر اعلان کړو.
د خېبر پښتونخوا حکومت وايي، پر ورسک سړک پر یوه ښوونځي «سکول» د وسله والو طالبانو له بریده ۱۲۰ ماشومان وژل شوي او تر ۲۰۰ زیات ژوبل دي.
د پېښور لېډي ریډینګ روغتون د ورسک سړک پر یوه ښوونځي د ترهګرو په بریدونو کې د وژل شوو او ژوبلو زده کوونکو یو نوملړ یا لیسټ خپور شوی چې پکې د لرې برې پښتونخوا ماشومانو ته مرګژوبله اوښتې. په دوی کې د پېښور ښار، ځنګلي، کاکشال، متنو، پلوڅۍ، چارسدې، مردان، تاروجبې، ډېری کلی، ملاکنډ، درګۍ، کرک، کوهاټ، لکي مروت، صوابۍ زده کوونکي دي.
د برید ښکار شوو ماشومانو عمرونه له دوولس تر اوولس کلونو پورې دي.
'زما تر مخ ۵۰ زده کوونکي ووژل شول'
د یو زده کوونکي سترګو لیدل حال
د وسله والو طالبانو په برید کې د وژل شوو زده کوونکو، استادانو او نورو قرباني شوو په غم کې د خېبر پښتونخوا حکومت درې ورځنی ویر اعلان کړو.
د خېبر پښتونخوا حکومت وايي، پر ورسک سړک پر یوه ښوونځي «سکول» د وسله والو طالبانو له بریده ۱۲۰ ماشومان وژل شوي او تر ۲۰۰ زیات ژوبل دي.
د پېښور لېډي ریډینګ روغتون د ورسک سړک پر یوه ښوونځي د ترهګرو په بریدونو کې د وژل شوو او ژوبلو زده کوونکو یو نوملړ یا لیسټ خپور شوی چې پکې د لرې برې پښتونخوا ماشومانو ته مرګژوبله اوښتې. په دوی کې د پېښور ښار، ځنګلي، کاکشال، متنو، پلوڅۍ، چارسدې، مردان، تاروجبې، ډېری کلی، ملاکنډ، درګۍ، کرک، کوهاټ، لکي مروت، صوابۍ زده کوونکي دي.
د برید ښکار شوو ماشومانو عمرونه له دوولس تر اوولس کلونو پورې دي.
'زما تر مخ ۵۰ زده کوونکي ووژل شول'
د یو زده کوونکي سترګو لیدل حال
'زما یو ملګری مې په لاسونو کې مړ شو'
د پېښور پر ورسک سړک پر یوه ښوونځي د لسم ټولګي یو زده کوونکی وايي، نژدې لس نیمې بجې وې چې درز غوبل شروع شو، ډزې شوې او یو څو کسان په ښوونځي کې دننه لوی تالار ته راننوتل او پر زده کوونکو یې ناتاره ډزې پیل کړې. زما تر سترګو ۴۰، ۵۰ زده کوونکي ووژل شول. له هغوی سره درنې وسلې او بمونه ول. ډېر زده کوونکي یې ژوبل کړل.
زه هم د ښوونځي په لوی تالار کې وم، چې ناتاره ډزې راباندې وشولې. یوې بلې خوا ته مړي پراته ول، زما یوه ملګري مې زما په لاسونو کې ساه ورکړه. د چا په خوله کې، ملال کې، سرونو کې ګولۍ لګېدلي وې. بریدکوونکو تورې جامې اغوستې وې، او پینځه خو ما په خپلو سترګو ولیدل.
د پېښور پر ورسک سړک پر یوه ښوونځي د لسم ټولګي یو زده کوونکی وايي، نژدې لس نیمې بجې وې چې درز غوبل شروع شو، ډزې شوې او یو څو کسان په ښوونځي کې دننه لوی تالار ته راننوتل او پر زده کوونکو یې ناتاره ډزې پیل کړې. زما تر سترګو ۴۰، ۵۰ زده کوونکي ووژل شول. له هغوی سره درنې وسلې او بمونه ول. ډېر زده کوونکي یې ژوبل کړل.
زه هم د ښوونځي په لوی تالار کې وم، چې ناتاره ډزې راباندې وشولې. یوې بلې خوا ته مړي پراته ول، زما یوه ملګري مې زما په لاسونو کې ساه ورکړه. د چا په خوله کې، ملال کې، سرونو کې ګولۍ لګېدلي وې. بریدکوونکو تورې جامې اغوستې وې، او پینځه خو ما په خپلو سترګو ولیدل.
Afghanistan strongly condemn Peshawar attack
Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned an armed attack at a school in Peshawar on Tuesday.
A statement issued from the presidential palace here in Kabul quotes the President as saying “Killing innocent and harmless kids is an act against Islam and Humanity. I strongly condemned the brutal act of the terrorists.”
The statement adds that the president prayed for the victims.
The attack which started at around 11:00AM today has left 130 killed and 80 injured so far.
Most of the victims are students of the military-run school stormed by gunmen in Warsak Road area of the city of Peshawar.
The attack also included explosions in the school where around 500 students were thought to be inside at the time of the attack.
Pakistan’s prime minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif has declared a three-country wide mourning.
Tahrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban spokesman has said that the attack was carried out to revenge Pakistan’s military operation under way in North Waziristan.
TTP in the past also have carried out attacks in different parts of Pakistan in an apparent response to the military operation in the tribal belt.
Pakistan’s military has initiated a large scale operation in North Waziristan since June this year with last Monday marking 6 months.
Pakistan’s military sources claim to have killed over 1800 terrorists in this operation including Al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters.