Children killed in attack on Pakistan school

At least 126 people were killed in a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan on Tuesday, according to multiple reports. 

{mosads}Most of the dead were students from the school, the information minister for the province, Mushtaq Ghani, told The Associated Press.

The attack began around 10 a.m. when five to six gunmen attacked the school, killing and taking hostages, The New York Times reports. 

The army arrived on the scene and exchanged fire with the gunmen. Officials said that five Taliban militants have been killed, according to Reuters. 

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it is retribution for army operations against the Taliban in their safe havens in the tribal areas of Pakistan. 

“We selected the army’s school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females,” said Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani, Reuters reports. “We want them to feel the pain.”

The school that was attacked is run by the army and is in the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan. 

Prime Minister Nawz Sharif said he was on his way to Peshawar. 

“I can’t stay back in Islamabad. This is a national tragedy unleashed by savages. These were my kids,” he said in a statement, Reuters reports. “This is my loss. This is the nation’s loss. I am leaving for Peshawar now and I will supervise this operation myself.”

“An army doctor was visiting us teaching us about first aid when attackers came from behind our school and started firing,” a student told Pakistan’s Dunya Television, Reuters reports. 

“Our teachers locked the door and we ducked on the floor, but they [militants] broke down the door. Initially they fired in the air and later started killing the students, but left the hall suddenly,” the student added. “The attackers had long beards, wore shalwar kameez [traditional baggy clothes] and spoke Arabic.”