Taliban go on killing spree at Pakistan school, 132 students dead

(Reuters) - At least 132 students and nine staff members were killed on Tuesday when Taliban gunmen broke into a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and opened fire, witnesses said, in the bloodiest massacre the country has seen for years.

More than eight hours after militants slipped into the heavily guarded compound through a back entrance, the army declared the operation to flush them out over, and said that all nine insurgents had been killed.

The attack on a military-run high school attended by more than 1,100 people, many of them children of army personnel, struck at the heart of Pakistan's military establishment, an assault certain to enrage the country's powerful army.

Wounded children taken to nearby hospitals told Reuters most victims died when gunmen, suicide vests strapped to their bodies, entered the compound and opened fire indiscriminately on boys, girls and their teachers.

"One of my teachers was crying, she was shot in the hand and she was crying in pain," said Shahrukh Khan, 15, who was shot in both legs but survived by hiding under a bench.

"One terrorist then walked up to her and started shooting her until she stopped making any sound. All around me my friends were lying injured and dead."

The Taliban, waging war against Pakistan in order to topple the government and set up an Islamic state, immediately claimed responsibility.

"We selected the army's school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females," said Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani. "We want them to feel the pain."  Read More

Afghan Taliban condemns school attack by Pakistani Taliban

Taliban Attack Pakistan School, Killing More Than 140 - WSJ