Summary Security forces reach the site of attack and prepare to launch operation.
PESHAWAR (Web desk/ AFP) – At least 23 students, a female teacher, a male teacher and a security official died and 46 injured as armed militants attacked Army Public School at Warsak Road in Peshawar on Tuesday keeping students hostage.
An operation is underway while the firing has ceased.
Militants attacked when a ceremony was underway at school. Most of the njured were being shifted to Lady Reading hospital for medical assistance.
Police contingents and security forces reached the site immediately, besieged and cordoned off the area. Security forces have been able to rescue four students yet while the terrorist were still in the school. The area under attack is aerially inspected.
Warsak Road has been blocked for traffic whereas worried parents have gathered outside the school while nobody is allowed to enter the premises of the school. Media coveraged has also been barred while the forces are chalking out counter strategy.
Outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for the army s continuing operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal area close to Peshawar. A senior military official told AFP that troops had cordoned off the area around the school and were hunting down the militants. The school on Peshawar s Warsak Road is part of the Army Public Schools and Colleges System, which runs 146 schools nationwide for the children of military personnel and civilians. Its students range in age from around 10 to 18.
TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani told AFP there were six attackers. "They include target killers and suicide attackers. They have been ordered to shoot the older students but not the children," he said. "This attack is a response to Zarb-e-Azab and the killing of Taliban fighters and harassing their families."
Rescued student said militants bore modern weaponry wearing adorning black uniforms were targeting students. An other eye-witness informed that the terrorists were foreigners who were speaking Arabic.
According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), militants entered the auditorium and opened fire while exchange of gunshots is taking place between the forces and terrorists whereas several students and teachers were rescued by the security forces.
Provincial Minister Health Shahram Tarkai said an emergency has been launched in hospital whereas the number of casualities is not certain. List of the deceased would be displayed in the hospital within a few hours.
This is a developing story, more details to follow.
