On Tuesday, a group of armed Taliban members attacked a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 141 people, many of them children.
A Pakistani military spokesman, Asim Bajwa, said that seven Taliban members orchestrated the attack on the school and that all of them were wearing explosive vests. All seven of them died during the attack as well as 132 children and nine staff members. 121 other children were injured in the attack as well as three staff members.
Bajwa did not say if the attackers were killed by the soldiers who rushed to the school as part of a military operation ordered by the Pakistani government, or if they killed themselves by using their explosive bests to blow themselves up.
He did say that he believes the purpose of the attack was to simply terrify the children and staff members in the school and to harm and kill them.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”-Associated Press” author_title=”Pakistani Officials Say Siege At School Is Over”]
Their sole purpose, it seems, was to kill those innocent kids. That’s what they did.
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Witnesses say that the men stormed the school early in the morning and began shooting students and staff members at random. There were also at least two explosions outside the building that may have been caused by bombs.
Pakistani soldiers battled with the attackers for hours but were able to secure the scene. Ambulances transported the injured to a nearby hospital while concerned parents and family members huddled nearby, waiting for answers and information about their children and loved ones
Officials believe that the Taliban targeted the school because many of the students enrolled there belong to military members. Most of the children killed in the attack appear to be civilian students. A total of 1,099 students are registered at the school.
The prime minister has vowed to seek justice for those killed and injured in the attack.
