Taliban kill 132 at school in Pakistan
ATROCITY:The victims were mostly schoolchildren, in the deadliest terror attack in the country since at least 2007, in what Islamabad has called ‘a decisive moment’
Taliban militants killed dozens of children in an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan, that has left 132 people dead so far, the country’s deadliest terrorist attack since at least 2007.
Two attackers were holding 40 teachers and 20 students hostage, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Minister of Information Mushtaq Ghani said by telephone before a military source announced that a nine-hour Pakistani Army operation to retake the school was complete
All nine attackers were reportedly killed, the source said.
Four attackers blew themselves up and another was shot dead by soldiers, he said.
The strike is the worst since the army began an offensive against Taliban insurgents near the Afghan border earlier this year.
The military is expected to want to hit back hard as the Taliban looks for more so-called “soft targets,” such as shopping centers and restaurants affiliated with the armed forces, according to Omar Hamid, head of Asia-Pacific country risk at IHS Inc.
“A lot of the kids that go to this school would have parents in the army who are taking part in the operation,” Hamid said by telephone from London. “It’s an attempt to bring the conflict into the homes of the military, especially in Peshawar.”
The dead included 123 male students, as well as nine staff members, including a female teacher, Peshawar government spokesman Feroze Shah said by telephone.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Express Tribune, citing Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khorasani.
The attack was in retaliation for the military’s operation in North Waziristan and Khyber tribal agency, it said.
“This is a decisive moment in the fight against terrorism,” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told reporters in televised remarks from Peshawar. “The people of Pakistan should unite in this fight. Our resolve will not be weakened by these attacks.”
Terrorism has killed more than 50,000 people in Pakistan since 2001 and complicated efforts to revive South Asia’s second-biggest economy.
Yesterday’s strike is the deadliest on a school since a 2004 assault by Islamic militants in Russia, according to Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.
About 350 people died then in Beslan, North Ossetia, half of them children.
It also came a day after a self-proclaimed Islamic cleric from Iran held 17 hostages at a Sydney cafe for 16 hours. He died along with two hostages.
“Due to the momentum of events in Syria and Iraq, the number of groups in Pakistan have become more galvanized,” Gunaratna said. “You can see a trend toward hostage-taking and barricade-type situations. It’s a very serious situation.”
Two attackers were holding 40 teachers and 20 students hostage, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Minister of Information Mushtaq Ghani said by telephone before a military source announced that a nine-hour Pakistani Army operation to retake the school was complete
All nine attackers were reportedly killed, the source said.
Four attackers blew themselves up and another was shot dead by soldiers, he said.
The strike is the worst since the army began an offensive against Taliban insurgents near the Afghan border earlier this year.
The military is expected to want to hit back hard as the Taliban looks for more so-called “soft targets,” such as shopping centers and restaurants affiliated with the armed forces, according to Omar Hamid, head of Asia-Pacific country risk at IHS Inc.
“A lot of the kids that go to this school would have parents in the army who are taking part in the operation,” Hamid said by telephone from London. “It’s an attempt to bring the conflict into the homes of the military, especially in Peshawar.”
The dead included 123 male students, as well as nine staff members, including a female teacher, Peshawar government spokesman Feroze Shah said by telephone.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Express Tribune, citing Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khorasani.
The attack was in retaliation for the military’s operation in North Waziristan and Khyber tribal agency, it said.
“This is a decisive moment in the fight against terrorism,” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told reporters in televised remarks from Peshawar. “The people of Pakistan should unite in this fight. Our resolve will not be weakened by these attacks.”
Terrorism has killed more than 50,000 people in Pakistan since 2001 and complicated efforts to revive South Asia’s second-biggest economy.
Yesterday’s strike is the deadliest on a school since a 2004 assault by Islamic militants in Russia, according to Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.
About 350 people died then in Beslan, North Ossetia, half of them children.
It also came a day after a self-proclaimed Islamic cleric from Iran held 17 hostages at a Sydney cafe for 16 hours. He died along with two hostages.
“Due to the momentum of events in Syria and Iraq, the number of groups in Pakistan have become more galvanized,” Gunaratna said. “You can see a trend toward hostage-taking and barricade-type situations. It’s a very serious situation.”
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/12/17/2003606919
.Structure of the Lead：
WHO- Taliban militants, army-run
school students and teachers
WHEN- Wed, Dec 16, 2014
WHAT- Taliban kill 132 at school
in Pakistan
WHY- The attack was in retaliation
for the military’s operation in North Waziristan
and Khyber tribal agency.
WHERE –Peshawar Pakistan
WHERE –
HOW- holding
40 teachers and 20 students as hostage and shot them to dead.
Keywords：
1. Taliban：塔利班
2. Peshawar：白沙瓦
3. hostage：人質
4. blow up：引爆
5. insurgents：叛亂份子
6. retaliation：報復
7. self-proclaimed：自詡為
8. hostage-taking：挾持人質
It is very scared to meet insurgents when we are in our school. I often think that why people always attack others in order to extend their power or to force others to follow their religions. Luckily, I was born in a modern time in Taiwan and there are not wars, so that we can live in a peaceful lives.
回覆刪除It's so sad that see this tragedy. I think all terrorist should be set to prison because they are too cruel.
回覆刪除As we can see, there are more and more cases about terrorist attack happened. Once other people did something they didn't like, they would try their best to stop this kind of things happening. Thus, it is essential to find out a solution to solve this problem.
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