Relatives comfort Mohammad Baqair, whose mother died in the Taliban attack. (Associated Press photo)
The combat operation with the six Taliban suicide bombers, who attacked a school in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar, is over, and all of them are dead, the Pakistan police said. The nearly 7-hour attack left 141 people dead -- 132 of them were children. Around 80 children have been injured.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
- "The combat operation is over, the security personnel are carrying out a clearance operation and hopefully they will clear the building in a while," a police officer, Abdullah Khan, told Agence France Presse.
- The Taliban militants, wearing suicide vests and carrying guns, had stormed the army-run school. They barged into classrooms and pulling out students from under benches, shot them, said Shahrukh Khan, a boy who survived the attack. (Read: Peshawar Student Describes Attack)
- Reports said the militants even set a teacher on fire after pouring gasoline on her. Hours into the siege, heavy gunfire and multiple blasts were heard from inside the school.
- The attackers, dressed in military uniforms, had entered the school from a graveyard and through the rear gate.
- Seven army personnel, including two officers, were wounded in the operation.
- Taliban spokesman Muhammad Khorasani said the attack was a retaliation for a major military offensive in the region. "We want them to feel the pain," he said, adding the militants had been ordered to "shoot the older students but not the children".
- Doctors at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital said many of those injured were in critical condition. They said many had been shot in head. The hospital has reported a shortage of blood and has sought blood donations urgently.
- In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a "senseless act of unspeakable brutality". "This dastardly and inhuman attack exposes the real face of terrorism," tweeted Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
- Condemning the attack, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who rushed to Peshawar, said, "This is a national tragedy, these were my kids, this is my loss". A three-day state mourning has been declared.
- But Mr Sharif made it clear that the action against Taliban has entered a crucial phase and will not be stopped. "Operation Zarb-e-azab will continue until terrorism is completely wiped out from the country. We have had talks with Afghanistan," he said.
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