At least 84 people, most of them children, were killed after a group of gunmen stormed an army-run school in Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack Tuesday.
Pervez Khattak, chief minister of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said over 80 of the wounded are children ranging from 12 to 16 years of age. He said that two of the attackers are now dead, One blew himself up, while the other was killed by security forces.
Earlier, Shahram Khan, the provincial health minister, said that two teachers and an army official had also been killed, while 104 more were injured.
The Pakistan military said a rescue operation involving its troops is currently underway at the school, and gunfire is still being exchanged. Khattak said there was an "ongoing hostage situation" at the school.
A spokesman for the TTP, who called himself Mohammed Khurrassani, claimed that six suicide bombers entered the school compound with orders to kill older students. He said the attack was revenge for the "Zarb e Azb, Khyber-1 military operation and revenge of dumped bodies of detained prisoners."
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