Mass funerals began Wednesday for the 148 people, mostly children, killed in a Taliban massacre on a military-run school in northwestern Pakistan Tuesday.
The massacre is being called the deadliest insurgent attack on the country in years. Many individuals who survived the attack, including school staff, died overnight, increasing the death toll. About 132 students were killed.
According to the Associated Press:
Prayer vigils were held across Pakistan and in other schools, students spoke of their shock at the brutal slayings in Peshawar, where children and teenagers were gunned down and some of the female teachers burned alive. Army commandos fought the Taliban in a day-long battle until the school was cleared and all the attackers dead.
The attack began when seven Taliban gunmen, explosives strapped to their bodies, scaled a back wall using a ladder to get into the school on Tuesday morning. Once inside, they made their way into the main auditorium where many students had gathered for an event, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa told reporters during the tour Wednesday.
The militants then made their way to the hall’s stage and started shooting at random. As students tried to flee for the doors, they were shot and killed. The military recovered about 100 bodies from the auditorium alone, Bajwa said.
A day later, blood still pooled on the school floors, children’s clothes, shoes, and torn notebooks littered the ground.
Scene of final gun battle in the school pic.twitter.com/M6poske46D
— Mishal Husain (@MishalHusainBBC) December 17, 2014
“This is not a human act,” Bajwa added. “This is a national tragedy.”
A three-day mourning period was declared by the government, starting Wednesday.
“They finished in minutes what I had lived my whole life for, my son,” said laborer Akhtar Hussain, tears streaming down his face as he buried his 14-year-old, Fahad. He said he had worked for years in Dubai to earn a livelihood for his children.
“That innocent one is now gone in the grave, and I can’t wait to join him, I can’t live anymore,” he wailed, banging his fists against his head.
The Taliban took responsibility for the attack almost immediately. In an email, Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khurasani said it was justified “because the Pakistani army has allegedly long been killing innocent children and families of their fighters.”
President Obama condemned the action, saying, “terrorists have once again showed their depravity.”
We’ll keep you updated with the latest from Pakistan.
SOURCE: AP | VIDEO SOURCE: News Inc.
