Taliban militants massacre hundreds in Pakistan school

(AGI) Rome, Dec 16 - A group of Taliban commandos attacked amilitary school in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Tuesday. At least 130people were killed, many of them children aged under 15, and180 were injured, of which 80 were gravely hurt. The massacrebegan at approximately 11 a.m. local time and went on for sevenhours until the army managed to regain control of the building.The academy is typically attended by around 1,000 studentsbetween the ages of 10 and 18. The experience was hell for manyof the youths. Some managed to flee, while others feigneddeath. Those who survived recounted their gruesome experience:armed Taliban stormed into classrooms and fired their weaponsindiscriminately, chasing students and flushing out thosehidden beneath their desks. The bloodbath ended with all sixTaliban dead. The extremists had climbed over the outer walland reportedly carried suicide vests. Students said some ofthem had foreign accents and that they spoke to each other inArabic. They also used students as human shields. The attackwas carried out in Peshawar, the largest city in northwestPakistan. The targeted academy was Warsak Road, named after thestreet it is located on, which is part of the system of publicschools and colleges run by Pakistan's army. The attack wasretaliation for the army's offensive in North Waziristan, atribal area on the border with Afghanistan riddled with Talibanstrongholds, and located not far from the 4 million inhabitantsof Peshawar. "We selected the army's school for the attackbecause the government is targeting our families and females.We want them to feel the pain", said the spokesman ofTehreek-e-Taliban, Muhammad Umar Khorasani. "Our suicidebombers have entered the school, they have instructions not toharm the children, but to target army personnel", he stated.The instructions fell on empty ears, however, with manychildren falling victim to the gunmen's killing spree viaexecution. A doctor at the Lady Reading Hospital said that manyof the youths had head and chest wounds. The authorities areverifying reports that numerous bodies were decapitated. Theattack has been met with worldwide condemnation. Nobel PeacePrize laureate Malala Yousafzai, whom the same Taliban branchtried to kill in 2012 for her endorsement of female education,said she is "heartbroken" by the news. U.S. President BarackObama defined the attack as "heinous", while UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon described it as "an act of horrorand rank cowardice to attack defenseless children while theylearn". The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini,called it not only "an attack on universal values, but alsoPakistan's future and our own". The Taliban coldly replied thatthe attack was "just the trailer" to further attacks. (AGI).