Taliban kill 100, most of whom are children, in assault on Peshawar school

Taliban forces attacked an army-run school killing at least 126 people, mostly children.

16:56 16 December 2014

At least 126 people, mostly children, were killed after the Taliban attacked an army-run school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. 500 students have been evacuated.

Six of the militants also died with at least one of them dying as a result of a suicide blast. It seemed that the militants have been intent on killing as many students as possible.

The attack is said to be the worst so far in Pakistan.

A spokesman for the militants told BBC Urdu that the school had been targeted in response to army operations. Recently, hundreds of Taliban fighters have been killed in military offensives in North Waziristan and the nearby Khyber area.

Mudassir Awan, a worker at the school, said he had seen six people scaling its walls.

"We thought it must be the children playing some game," he told Reuters news agency. "But then we saw a lot of firearms with them.

"As soon as the firing started, we ran to our classrooms," he said. "They were entering every class and they were killing the children."

Eyewitnesses said that the attackers entered the school auditorium where a military team was conducting first-aid training for students.