Suicide attack on aps school peshawar
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| suicide attack on aps school peshawar |
Peshawar: At least 23 people,
mostly children, were killed and 36 wounded when six Taliban suicide
bombers stormed an army-run school in Pakistan on Tuesday, officials
said. (Peshawar school attack: Track LIVE updates)
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| Suicide attack on aps school peshawar |
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| Suicide attack on aps school peshawar |
The
health minister for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the restive northwestern
province where the attack took place, said teachers were also among the
dead.
The suicide bombers were ordered to shoot older students, a
Taliban spokesman said, adding the attack was revenge for a major
military offensive. One terrorist allegedly blew himself up outside the
school auditorium.
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| Suicide attack on aps school peshawar |
At least five insurgents wearing military
uniforms entered the Army Public School in the city of Peshawar, a
source at the school told AFP. Officials said the terrorists used
children as shields against army troopers.
A senior military official said troops had surrounded the school and television footage showed them taking up positions.
Sharif
Khan, a doctor at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, told AFP they had
received 35 wounded, two of them teachers, as well as the bodies of
three students.
A senior police official confirmed the death toll
and warned it was likely to rise, saying a "huge blast" had occurred
inside the school.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed
responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for the army's
continuing operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal
area close to Peshawar.
A senior military official told AFP that troops had cordoned off the area around the school and were hunting down the militants.
The
school on Peshawar's Warsak Road is part of the Army Public Schools and
Colleges System, which runs 146 schools nationwide for the children of
military personnel and civilians. Its students range in age from around
10 to 18.
The schools educate the children of both officers and non-commissioned soldiers and army wives often teach in them.
A
security official told AFP that hundreds of students and staff were in
the school when the attack began, though it was not immediately clear
how many are still being held.
TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani told AFP there were six attackers.
"They
include target killers and suicide attackers. They have been ordered to
shoot the older students but not the children," he said.
"This attack is a response to Zarb-e-Azab and the killing of Taliban fighters and harassing their families."
Zarb-e-Azb
is the official name for the army's offensive against strongholds of
the Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan.
The offensive has killed more than 1,600 militants, according to an AFP tally.
The military has hailed the operation as a major success in disrupting Taliban militancy.
The
semi-autonomous tribal areas that border Afghanistan have for years
been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes - including Al
Qaeda and the homegrown TTP as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks
and Uighurs.
Washington pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out
the sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which militants have used to launch
attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.sucide attack on aps school peshawar
sucide attack on aps school peshawar