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| Pakistani security forces takes up a positions on a road leading to the Army Public School that is under attack by Taliban gunmen in Peshawar on Dec 16, 2014. -- PHOTO: REUTERS |
Senior provincial minister Inayatullah told AFP at least 104 bodies had been taken to two hospitals in Peshawar, the north-western city where the attack took place.
Troops surrounded the building and an operation was under way to rescue the remaining children, the army said. A Reuters journalist at the scene said he could hear heavy gunfire from inside the school.
Pervaiz Khattak, Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province of which Peshawar is the capital, said at least 84 children had been killed.
“In CMH (Combined Military Hospital) there are around 60 and there are 24 dead in Lady Reading (hospital),” he told local television channels. It was not immediately clear whether some or all of the children were killed by the gunmen or in the ensuing battle with Pakistani security forces trying to gain control of the building.
Outside, helicopters hovered overhead and ambulances ferried wounded children to hospital. An unspecified number of children were still being held hostage in the school, a provincial official said, speaking some three hours after the attack began.
The Pakistani Taleban, who are fighting to topple the government and set up a strict Islamic state, have vowed to step up attacks in response to a major army operation against the insurgents in the tribal areas.
They have targeted security forces, checkpoints, military bases and airports, but attacks on civilian targets with no logistical significance are relatively rare. In September, 2013, dozens of people, including many children, were killed in an attack on a church, also in Peshawar.
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