Distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban scrapped
PM reintroduces death penalty for terrorism cases
Funerals for the victims at the start of three days of national mourning
Pakistan responds to massacre with strikes on Taliban
Witness describes horror of attack on Pakistan school – video
Read the latest summary
12.54am AEST
We’re going to bring this blog to close for now. Here’s a summary of the latest developments:
12.38am AEST
The Pakistani authorities have stated that the death toll from the attack now stands at 148 people. The number of students killed remains at 132. Another 121 students and three staff members were wounded in the assault.
Lanterns have been lit for all 148 victims at a vigil in Karachi.
Pakistan Youth Alliance and @khudipk lighting 148 flying lanterns to pay tribute to the martyrs of #PeshawarAttack pic.twitter.com/i5GUyz5K7D
12.27am AEST
Pakistan has shared “vital intelligence” with Afghanistan during the visit of army chief General Raheel Sharif to Kabul, according to military spokesman Asim Bajwal.
Army #Chief lands back at Psr.Essential intelligence shared with Afgn.Common resolve;Terrorists will be eliminated from wherever they go
12.10am AEST
Pakistan political rivals have agreed to come up with a national plan on tackling terrorism, in the wake of the Peshawar attack, Radio Pakistan reports.
The leaders decided to form a Committee under the chairmanship of Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan to prepare a National Plan of Action against terrorism within a week.
The Committee will have one representative each from parliamentary and other political parties. Representatives of the Armed Forces and intelligence agencies will also be part of the Committee.
#APC: #NawazSharif thanked all political leaders including Imran Khan for attending Conference http://t.co/MFMRJHOa4Q pic.twitter.com/IMgJT5RJ2h
12.04am AEST
The Pakistani Taliban has posted photographs of six Islamic fighters they said took part in the Peshawar assault, AP confirms.
In one photo, the militants are seen wearing army fatigues, standing with a local Taliban leader in what the statement claimed one of the Pakistani tribal regions.
Revealed: These are the men who massacred 132 innocent children #PeshawarAttack http://t.co/5RitHATVta pic.twitter.com/NQu1z9JEMX
11.34pm AEST
At his press conference in Peshawar, the prime minister announced there will no more distinction etween “good” and “bad” Taliban.
“We have resolved to continue the war against terrorism till the last terrorist is eliminated,” he said according to the Express Tribune.
The longer-standing complaint against Pakistan is that it picks and chooses between “good” and “bad” Taliban. The TTP—or factions thereof—are defined as bad because it targets the Pakistani state. Those who hold similar ideologies but operate outside Pakistan, in Afghanistan and India, or even target Shias within Pakistan are tolerated.
This partly reflects a hangover from the past, when Islamist groups in Kashmir and the Afghan Taliban were seen as useful instruments for Pakistan’s foreign policy; the use of proxy forces by Pakistan goes back to its independence in 1947. It also reflects the weakness of civilian governments; many radical groups also undertake popular social functions such as health care, education and flood relief, which help to cover up the poor capabilities of the Pakistani state. In addition, there is a logic in Pakistan politicians’ preferring that violence be displaced from Pakistan into Afghanistan, the path recently taken by the “Punjabi Taliban” in September this year.
11.27pm AEST
Images of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif next to opposition leader Imran Khan at the all-party meeting in Peshawar have been broadcast on Pakistani TV.
A Sight We Have Wished To See Since Past Four Months. I Appreciate Both. #PeshawarAttack #UnitedAgainstTTP pic.twitter.com/05c5wiNUaP
11.16pm AEST
Here’s a summary of the latest developments:
10.52pm AEST
A suspected Taliban attack on a bank in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, killed at least 10 people, AP reports citing policemen and officials.
In the attack, in the provincial capital, Lashgar Gah, five suicide bombers raided the city’s branch of the New Kabul Bank. One of the attackers blew himself up at the front entrance to allow the other three in, said Omer Zawaj, the spokesman for the provincial governor.
Once inside, the other attackers fired at security forces, which arrived at the scene and surrounded the building, Zawaj said.
While his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, was quick to blame Pakistan for incidents in Afghanistan, Ghani has taken the view that stability in Afghanistan requires cooperation rather than confrontation with Pakistan, and he recently accepted Pakistan’s long-standing offer to help train Afghanistan’s military.
But for Pakistan, meaningful cooperation would require Afghanistan to take action against Pakistan Taliban groups in Afghanistan. And earlier this month Afghan and US troops did exactly that: In one drone, attack nine members of the TTP were killed in Kunar province.
10.29pm AEST
AFP has more on the visit by Pakistan’s military command to Kabul.
Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif who was accompanied by the head of the Pakistan’s main intelligence agency, the ISI, is set to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and ISAF commander General John Campbell, according to a brief statement by the military.
Some of the militants who attacked the army-run school in Peshawar Tuesday spoke in Arabic, a senior security official told AFP, which he said suggested that they had links over the border in Afghanistan.
10.18pm AEST
The Pakistan Cricket Board has called off a cup final match in Muridke as a mark of respect, but a limited overs international between Pakistan and New Zealand in Abu Dhabi is due to go ahead despite calls for it to be postponed.
There are plans to hold a two-minute silence at the match, and the proceeds will be donated to families of the victims.
10.04pm AEST
More grim images from inside the school have emerged, showing classrooms riddled with bullets and carpets soaked in blood.
9.52pm AEST
Prime minister Nawas Sharif has vowed to push ahead with an army offensive against the Taliban in Pakitan or Tehrik-e-Taliban. The group claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday, claiming it was revenge for an offensive launched against it in the summer named Zarb-e-Azb.
Speaking at an all party meeting in Peshawar today Sharif said Zarb-e-Azb “is successfully moving forward and Pakistan was making efforts for peace in the region”, according to the Pakistan Radio.
The prime minister stressed that the nation is waging jihad against terrorism and this mission will not be left unaccomplished.
He recalled that the government started dialogue with militants after evolving consensus of all political parties. But the government was left with no other option but to launch military operation against terrorists due to their intransigence.
9.41pm AEST
Overnight, the body of the school principal, Tahira Qazi, was found among the debris, AP reports.
Qazi was inside her office when the militants made their way into the administration building 20 meters from the auditorium. She had ran and locked herself into the bathroom but the attackers threw a grenade inside, through a vent, and killed her, according to army spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa.
my 2 heroes ! martyred miss tahira qazi (my teacher/principal) n my nephew abdullah ,brave survivor #PeshawarAttack pic.twitter.com/OqJiG65vJo
Mrs.Tahira Qazi, Principal Army Public School with her son & our uni friend Ahmad Qazi on his graduation. RIP Mam :'( pic.twitter.com/Tb0JlZNk81
Tribute to this Brave Lady Principal APS Tahira Qazi who was Burnt Alive by TTP Rascals. Pray for Her #PeshawarAttack pic.twitter.com/ih4xSBGh46
9.21pm AEST
Images of some of the victims of the attack have been published, notes Omar Quraishi, an editor at the Express Tribune.
Our future murdered -- some of the Peshawar school victims pic.twitter.com/bpFCT8KuEJ
9.15pm AEST
The Pakistan Taliban has identified the militants who carried out the attack on the school, according to reporter Harald Doornbos.
#break In statement, Pakistani taliban (TTP) claims these 6 men are behind #PeshawarAttack,7th man is commander: pic.twitter.com/PQrk2xXEks
8.58pm AEST
AFP has a grim graphic on the deadliest militant attacks in Pakistan since 2007.
Tuesday’s school massacre, which killed 132 children and nine members of staff, was the worst.
#INFOGRAPHIC Deadliest militant attacks in Pakistan since 2007 @AFP pic.twitter.com/k1USw9hFCb
8.54pm AEST
Pakistan’s army commander General Raheel Sharif is heading to Kabul.
The trip is designed as public show of putting pressure on Afghanistan to do something about the TTP leadership hiding in Kunar and Nuristan provinces in the east of the country, according to the Guardian’s Jon Boone.
#COAS in Psr:Left for Kabul on special visit.Accompanied by DG ISI. COAS will meet Afgn President, ISAF Comd, will return to Psr
8.22pm AEST
Before Tuesday’s attack the level of disapproval for the Taliban in Pakistan [TTP] was falling among Pakistanis, while a some even expressed support, writes Shashank Joshi an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.
In an article for the Interpreter he highlights Pew research conducted in August.
At the time of the survey, 8% of surveyed Pakistanis held a favourable view of the TTP. This is a small proportion, and belies the notion of widespread popularity. Nonetheless, on a crude extrapolation, it would amount to a staggering 14 million Pakistanis. Although a much larger slice of the population holds negative views of the Taliban (59%), this disapproval rate has fallen steadily from a high of 70% in 2009, a year when the Pakistani army was engaged in intense fighting with the militants in the Swat Valley. Depressingly, it is the lowest level of disapproval in six years.
The question is whether the imagery and testimony from Tuesday – a teacher burnt alive in front of students, reported beheadings, and the Taliban’s promise that this is ‘just the trailer’ – will serve as a catalysing moment, reversing the trend in attitudes of the past few years, or whether it will go down in history as just one more vicious attack marking a downward spiral of violence.
7.46pm AEST
Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala the Nobel peace prize winning school girl who was shot by the Taliban in 2012, has spoken on his family’s “trauma” over the school attack.
“My wife went unconscious,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
7.37pm AEST
AFP has more on the decision to lift the moratorium on the death penalty for terrorism.
“The prime minister has approved abolishment of moratorium on the execution of death penalty in terrorism-related cases,” an official from Sharif’s office said.
Hanging remains on the Pakistani statute book and judges continue to pass the death sentence, but a de facto moratorium on civilian executions has been in place since 2008.
Sharif said the nation will fight the war against terrorism keeping in mind the faces of the innocent children who were subjected to the worst violence by terrorists in a school in Peshawar yesterday.
7.06pm AEST
Suspected Taliban militants detonated a suicide bomb then stormed a bank branch in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, Reuters reports.
The militants engaged in a firefight with security forces while an unknown number of civilians were inside, police said.
A Reuters witness at the scene heard the blast and the gunfire. Employees who escaped said that when the attack happened, the bank was busy with government workers who had come to collect their salaries.
Statement from #Taliban in #Afghanistan condemns #Peshawar school attack at hands of Taliban in #Pakistan. #TTP pic.twitter.com/IR3b1Fj4NM
6.56pm AEST
The BBC’s Mishal Husain has tweeted some of the images from inside the school that she was describing earlier.
Inside the auditorium where 100 children died pic.twitter.com/JOErM8uRaU
The principal's office where a suicide bomber blew himself up pic.twitter.com/jAYqKWOyjh
Hamid Khan, parent at the school. His children escaped as they were playing cricket in the grounds pic.twitter.com/f0TTOOhign
6.50pm AEST
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reintroduced the death penalty for terrorism related cases, in the wake of the school attack, according to Pakistani daily The Express Tribune.
It reported that he had lifted a moratorium on capital punishment for such cases.
PM Nawaz abolishes moratorium on death penalty as nation mourns Peshawar victims http://t.co/XWjYblLLxY pic.twitter.com/nehLtm5sFe
6.30pm AEST
BBC Radio 4’s Mishal Husain has become one of the first journalists to enter the school since the shooting. She describes bloodstains running down white stone steps leading to the building’s auditorium.
On the way to the school she said she saw a small protest calling for a revenge against the Taliban.
6.20pm AEST
Guardian correspondent Jon Boone is on the quiet streets of Peshawar this morning.
The streets are unusually empty on what is, on most days of the week, an overcrowded, choked city. A mourning period has been called here, and there are only a few people outside.
But there are lots of funerals going on in this city today. We have just visited one, the joint funeral of two boys who lived together in the same part of town.
6.10pm AEST
There will be lots of funerals like these in Peshawar today
#PeshawarAttack | #Pakistan in mourning as #Peshawar buries its children http://t.co/uGCVThGWy1 pic.twitter.com/L0cLgF5qVo
6.07pm AEST
Imran Khan, Pakistan’s cricket captain-cum-iconoclastic political leader, has cancelled his planned nationwide shutdown for Thursday.
Khan believes the 2013 election – which was a strong result for his previously-underperforming PTI party, but still delivered the PML(N)’s Nawaz Sharif a commanding majority – was rigged, and is demanding an independent audit of the poll.
There is no justification for this.
We are with the families of the victims. All of Pakistan is with them.
5.44pm AEST
Editorials from newspapers around the world expressed despair and anger at the massacre of the children. Here is part of the New York Times leader which highlights the Pakistan army’s complicated relationship with the Taliban:
Wedded to an outmoded vision of India as the mortal enemy, the army has long played a double-game, taking American aid while supporting and exploiting various Taliban groups as a hedge against India and Afghanistan, and ignoring the peril that the militants have come to pose to Pakistan itself. The extent of cooperation among those groups in the tribal areas has made that game even riskier; the Pakistani military has long provided support for the Afghan-focused Taliban, even while trying to fight the Pakistani Taliban in recent years. Intelligence experts say the army is still collaborating with the Afghan Taliban in fighting the government in Kabul.
To defeat the extremists, Pakistan will need more than a military strategy. It will need responsible governance and an acknowledgment by top leaders that they cannot contain attacks from one terrorist group while enabling another one.
5.34pm AEST
Lots of funerals are being held across Peshawar today. They began on Wednesday morning:
Body of 14 yr old Abdullah carried to local grave yard. People shouting 'shaheed'-martyr and reciting Quran #peshawar pic.twitter.com/6H04yDAnBv
5.33pm AEST
Unconfirmed at this point, but this appears to be America’s initial response:
Reuters: a drone strike in Afghanistan has killed 11 militants including four Pakistani Taliban
4.48pm AEST
Sherry Rehman’s sentiment is shared by many in Pakistan.
The Pakistani government – in particular the military and its intelligence wing, the notorious ISI – has for decades been accused of covertly supporting the Taliban and its destabilising attacks over the border in Afghanistan.
Dear Pak Army, tear them apart. #PeshawarAttack #PrayForPakistan
Killings of innocent children is not justified in any religion or culture. Its an act by depraved desperate and Godless men #PeshawarAttack
4.36pm AEST
Reuters has just filed its latest dispatch from Peshawar:
A day after the attack, Peshawar appeared subdued and many were still in shock, recalling the gruesome events and trying to soothe each other. More details of the well-organised attack emerged as witnesses came forward with their stories.
4.30pm AEST
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (the Pakistani Taliban) should not be thought of as a single, homogenous organisation.
Within the terror network, there are splinter factions and schisms that have been highlighted by the deaths of leaders (usually by US drone attack) and disagreements over tactics in negotiation with the Pakistani government. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan lacks the strong central command structure of its Afghan equivalent.
4.17pm AEST
And in the Wednesday English-language papers in Pakistan, the headlines are a mixture of outrage and despair:
Front pages of the Wednesday editions of four Pakistani English-language dailies: pic.twitter.com/6cCqz15yeE
4.09pm AEST
A brief background on the city where yesterday’s horrific school attack took place:
Peshawar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, is about 180km west of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, and less than 60km from the Afghan border. Historically, the frontier city has been a key transport route, the terminus of the Grand Trunk Road of India and a major depot for trade with Afghanistan.
3.48pm AEST
It is morning now in Pakistan, and soldiers are back on the grounds of the Army Public School in Peshawar, where 141 people, including 132 children, were murdered by the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan has entered three days of mourning.
3.42pm AEST
Schoolchildren hold vigils for the students who were murdered in Peshawar:
3.35pm AEST
A candlelight vigil for the victims:
3.33pm AEST
3.25pm AEST
3.15pm AEST
2.58pm AEST
In Syria & Gaza, and now #Peshawar - it is the mothers' faces that bear the most pain of slaughtered children. pic.twitter.com/GGxezqcNUg
2.39pm AEST
The Pakistani Taliban says its attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar was retaliation for the military’s ongoing operation against its strongholds in the borderlands of North Waziristan. It wanted to kill the children of soldiers.
“We selected the army’s school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females,” Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani said. “We want them to feel the pain.”
2.15pm AEST
2.14pm AEST
In Pakistan this morning, people are asking why was this attack allowed to happen.
Rafia Zakaria from Dawn filed this excellent report on Pakistan’s schools of sorrow.
Outrage is an easy emotion in Pakistan and after a decade of terrorist attacks almost a habit; when the tears dry up as tears do, little changes.
Were we not locked into this cycle of act, outrage and forgetfulness, the imminence of an attack such as this one would have long been acknowledged, its probability seen as high, its likelihood necessitating preparation and security.
2.02pm AEST
Shahrukh Khan, 16, was shot in both legs. He survived by playing dead as the gunmen roamed the school, shouting “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire. Khan said he felt a searing pain as he was shot in both legs, just below the knees.
I saw a pair of big black boots coming towards me, this guy was probably hunting for students hiding beneath the benches.
My body was shivering. I saw death so close and I will never forget the black boots approaching me – I felt as though it was death that was approaching me.
They opened fire at the students and then went out.
The army doctor and soldiers managed to escape and we locked the doors from inside.
I was attending a lecture in our main hall. There are five doors in the hall. After some time we heard someone kicking the back doors.
There were gun shots but our teacher told us to be quiet and calmed us down. Then the men came with big guns.
The teacher asked us to recite from the Koran quietly.
When we came out from the back door there was a crowd of parents who were crying. When I saw my father he was also crying.
1.35pm AEST
US president Barack Obama described the gunmen’s assault as “heinous”.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, their families and loved ones. By targeting students and teachers in this heinous attack, terrorists have once again shown their depravity.”
1.20pm AEST
Education campaigner and Nobel peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban in 2012, has condemned the “atrocious and cowardly” attack on the school.
I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us.
Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this. I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts and stand united with the government and armed forces of Pakistan whose efforts so far to address this horrific event are commendable.
1.00pm AEST
12.57pm AEST
Jon Boone’s extraordinary reportage of the Peshawar attack is here. He writes: “Seven men wearing bomb vests climbed over an undefended wall and began a pitiless killing spree.”
12.45pm AEST
The Guardian’s front page. Jon Boone in Peshawar: “We didn’t move because whoever moved got shot at.”
Very powerful Guardian front page on Wednesday in wake of #PeshawarAttack, via @suttonnick. pic.twitter.com/SqpgZbqcux
12.44pm AEST
Many of the photos being circulated are very graphic. The Guardian has chosen not to publish those.
12.41pm AEST
Such a powerful and heartbreaking photo of grieving relatives of #PeshawarAttack victim by @bzohra @reuterspictures pic.twitter.com/xYturo3Epz
12.34pm AEST
Harrowing pictures are emerging on social media from Peshawar yesterday
No, not checking if they got A's. Parents checking if their child is dead or not on these lists. #PeshawarAttack pic.twitter.com/wl4VkF84qA
12.32pm AEST
Pakistan, a country more damaged by terrorism than almost any other on Earth, is waking up this morning, still in disbelief at a brutal attack on its children as they sat in classrooms.
The latest information says that at least 141 people – 132 schoolchildren and nine staff members - were killed in the militant attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. Most of the victims were teenagers.
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