At least 140 people have been killed, most of them children, in an unthinkable attack on an army-run school in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The Sydney Morning Herald report that Taleban insurgents stormed the school and then went from classroom to classroom, shooting at students and teachers.
It is believed that 132 children and nine teachers have died so far as a result of the attack, which is the worst such massacre the country has seen for years.
The attack began at 10.30am local time when insurgents struck the school, which is attended by around 500 students, many of them the children of army personnel.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was a retaliation for a military offensive in the region, in order to make the government “feel the pain.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned the attack as a “national tragedy unleashed by savages. These were my children,” he said. “This is my loss. This is the nation’s loss.”
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has visited the injured in hospital, while around the area, candlelit vigils have been held in mourning for the victims of the tragedy.
Photos: Farooq Naeem / Rizwan Tabussum via Getty Images
