Pakistan Taliban: Peshawar school attack leaves 141 dead

Militants from the Pakistani Taliban have attacked an army-run school in Peshawar, killing 141 people, 132 of them children, the military say.

Officials say the attack in the north-western city is over, with all the attackers killed. Seven militants took part in all, according to the army.

Scores of survivors are being treated in hospitals as frantic parents search for news of their children.

The attack – the Taliban’s deadliest in Pakistan – has been widely condemned.

Describing the attack from his hospital bed to the BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil, Shahrukh Khan, 17, said a gunman had entered his classroom and opened fire at random.

As he hid under a desk, he saw his friends being shot, one in the head and one in the chest. Two teachers were also killed.

A Taliban spokesman told BBC Urdu that the school, which is run by the army, had been targeted in response to military operations.

Hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to have died in a recent offensive in North Waziristan and the nearby Khyber area.

US President Barack Obama said terrorists had “once again shown their depravity” while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was “an act of horror and rank cowardice”.

Source:  BBC