Peshawar attack over; 126 children, 6 militants dead

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  A soldier escorts school children to safety after they were rescued from the Army Public School that is under attack by Taliban gunmen in Peshawar, on Tuesday, December 16, 2014. The gunmen have taken hundreds of students and teachers hostage in the school, Pakistan military officials said. 
   

  "We targeted the school because army targets our families. We want them to feel our pain," the Taliban said.

  Pakistan police said the attack on a school in Peshawar is over and all six militants have been killed. Police is now clearing explosives planted inside the school premises.

  Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing 126 people, officials said, in the worst attack to hit the country in years.

  The overwhelming majority of the victims were students at the army public school, which has children and teenagers in grades 1-10. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the assault and rushed to Peshawar to show his support for the victims.

  The horrific attack, carried out by a relatively small number of militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban, 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.

  “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 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 started exchanging fire with the gunmen, he said. Students wearing their green school uniforms could be seen on Pakistani television, fleeing the area.

  Outside the school, two loud booms of unknown origin were heard coming from the scene in the early afternoon, as Pakistani troops battled with the attackers. Armored personnel carriers were deployed around the school grounds, and a Pakistani military helicopter circled overhead.

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