According to CNN, “‘God is great,'” the Taliban militants shouted as they roared through the hallways of a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Then, 14-year-old student Ahmed Faraz recalled, one of them took a harsher tone.
” ‘A lot of the children are under the benches,’ ” a Pakistani Taliban said, according to Ahmed. ” ‘Kill them.’ “
By the time the hours-long siege at Army Public School and Degree College ended early Tuesday evening, at least 145 people — 132 children, 10 school staff members and three soldiers — were dead, military spokesman Gen. Asim Bajwa said. More than 100 were injured, many with gunshot wounds, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani.
Soldiers patrol the streets in Peshawar, Pakistan, near a school that was attacked by the Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday, December 16. Militants stormed the military-run school in northwest Pakistan, killing more than 140 people, most of them children. More than 100 people were injured.The uncle and cousin of injured student Mohammad Baqair comfort him as he mourns the death of his mother, a teacher who was killed in the attack.A man comforts a student who survived the attack.Parents escort their children away from the school.A wounded student receives treatment at a Peshawar hospital.Pakistani soldiers hold positions close to the school. All the militants in the attack were eventually killed, a police official said.Pakistani soldiers take position near the site of the attack.A student is wheeled into a hospital in Peshawar.A man and woman rush to a Peshawar hospital treating victims of the attack.Family members wait outside the school.People gather at a hospital where victims were being treated.Pakistani soldiers position themselves at a fence near the besieged school.A Pakistani soldier clears the area outside the school.An injured student lies in bed at a Peshawar hospital after the attack.A hospital security guard helps an injured student at the school.Parents leave with their children near the site of the attack.A plainclothes officer escorts rescued students away from the school.Pakistani troops reach the site of the attack.Volunteers carry a student at a hospital in Peshawar.An injured girl gets rushed to a hospital in Peshawar.A man comforts a student standing at the bedside of an injured boy.A Pakistani soldier takes position on a bunker close to the besieged school.Relatives of a student killed in the attack mourn over the student’s body.Hospital staff transport an injured student in Peshawar.The body of a victim lies at a hospital in Peshawar.Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school