PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)
— Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani
city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing at least 130 people, officials said, in the
worst attack to hit the country in over a year.
The overwhelming
majority of the victims were students at the army public school, which has
children and teenagers in grades 1-10.
The horrific violence,
carried out by a relatively small number of militants from the
Tehreek-e-Taliban group, a Pakistani militant group trying to overthrow the
government, also sent dozens of wounded flooding into local hospitals as
terrified parents searched for their children.
The attack began in the
morning hours, with about half a dozen gunmen entering the school — and
shooting at random, said police officer Javed Khan. Army commandos quickly
arrived at the scene and exchanged fire with the gunmen, he said.
Outside the school,
shooting was initially heard along with one loud bang of unknown origin.
Details were sketchy in the face of the overwhelming tragedy. Pakistani
television showed soldiers surrounding the area and pushing people back.
Pervez Khattak, the
chief minister of the province where Peshawar is located, said 84 died but that
death toll could rise further in the unfolding drama.
Khattack said fighting
was still underway and that roughly the same number of students have been
wounded. He said the 84 killed were all "children" but hospital
officials earlier said at least one of the fatalities was a teacher and that
one security official was also among the dead.
The school is located on
the edge of a military cantonment in Peshawar, but the bulk of the students are
civilian.
Taliban spokesman
Mohammed Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to
media, saying that six suicide bombers had carried out the attack in revenge
for the killings of Taliban members at the hands of Pakistani authorities.
Peshawar has been the
target of frequent militant attacks in the past but has seen a relative lull
recently.
