'Children were forced to watch as their teacher was burned alive': Survivors reveal horror inside Pakistan school as nine Taliban gunmen bomb and shoot to death up to 140 children

• .Gunmen in Peshawar entered school and started shooting at random
• .One terrorist blew himself up in a classroom containing 60 children 
• .Teacher set on fire in front of pupils, with the children forced to watch 
• .Army commandos quickly arrived at the scene and exchanged fire 
• .School was stormed by nine gunmen in military fatigues, it was reported
• .After hours of fighting the terrorists were killed by special forces soldiers  
• .MailOnline heard harrowing eyewitness accounts of the massacre     
• .Taliban accepted responsibility for the attack, claiming it 'was just a trailer' 
•  .David Cameron described the attack on the school as 'deeply shocking' 
• .The massacre is the worst ever in the deeply troubled region

By TED THORNHILL FOR MAILONLINE and IMTIAZ HUSSAIN IN PESHAWAR FOR MAILONLINE and AAMIR IQBAL and IAN BIRRELL and AOUN SAHI

A teacher was burned alive while her pupils were forced to watch during the massacre at the Peshawar school that saw up to 140 children killed, it has been reported.

Nine Taliban gunmen stormed a military school in the north-western Pakistani city today, in the worst ever militant attack to hit the troubled region. 

A source told NBC: 'They burnt a teacher in front of the students in a classroom. They literally set the teacher on fire with gasoline and made the kids watch.'

One suicide bomber is believed to have blown himself up in a room full of 60 children while there were reports that some of the victims arriving at a hospital in Peshawar had been beheaded, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm this.

The corridors of the city's Combined Military Hospital were lined with dead students, their green-and-yellow school uniform ties peeping out of white body bags.

One distraught family member was given the wrong body because the faces of many children were badly burned as a result of the suicide bomb explosions.

By nightfall, the death toll had reached 146, with one politician suggesting that 140 of those were children with 113 people injured. Earlier reports said that 130 children had been killed.

As the city began the devastating task of treating the horrifically wounded and identifying the dead, one grieving father told MailOnline: 'This is a terrible injustice. We are innocent people, my boys are innocents who do not carry guns and bombs.'

Meanwhile, terrifying accounts of the children's ordeal began to emerge.

A 10-year-old boy caught up in the massacre has spoken of his dramatic escape from Taliban gunmen as bullets whizzed past his head - having seen two of his classmates shot dead in front of him. 

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The uncle and cousin of injured student Mohammad Baqair, center, comfort him as he mourns the death of his mother, who was a teacher at the school which was attacked by Taliban

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Pakistani snipers take position near the school attacked by Taliban gunmen

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Special forces soldiers surrounded the school after it was attacked by nine gunmen

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A man comforts his son, who was injured during the attack

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Pakistani schoolgirls pray for the victims of the attack, which ended after a nine-hour gun battle

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Some of the bodies that have arrived at a hospital in Peshawar have been headless, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm this 

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The attack started with the gunmen entering the 500-pupil school - which has students aged 10 to 18

• Irfan Shah told how he was sitting in his class at 10:30 when he heard the sound of firing outside.

Shah told MailOnline: 'It was our social studies period. Our teacher first told us that some kind of drill was going on and that we do not need to worry. It was very intense firing. Then the sound came closer. Then we heard cries. One of our friends open the window of the class. 

'He started weeping as there were several school fellows lying on the ground outside the class. 

'Everybody was in panic. Two of our class fellows ran outside class in panic. They were shot in front of us.' 

He said that the teacher asked the children, part of a class of 33, to run towards the back gate of the school.

He continued: 'The back gate is around 200 meters from our class room. I tightly held the hand of my friend Daniyal and we both ran towards the back gate. We were weeping. I felt bullets passing by my head twice. It was so terrible. 

'We reached back gate in a minute. As we stepped outside the gate, we started weeping again very loudly. An aunt from a nearby house heard us and took us inside her house. We were shivering. She gave us water and comforted us. We stayed there for 15 minutes. 

'Our van always parked a few hundred meters away from the school. We then went to our van. The van driver told us that our school fellows who have been murdered in the attack are martyrs and they would go to jannah (paradise).

'We have been told that two of our class fellows died in the attack. They both were shot in front of all of us.' 

The Taliban said they sent the gunmen into the building for revenge.

'We selected the army's school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females,' said Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani. 'We want them to feel the pain.' 

The attack started with nine gunmen entering the 500-pupil school - which has students aged 10 to 18 - in the early hours.

The jihadists shot their way into the building and went from classroom to classroom, shooting at random and picking off students one by one.

Army commandos quickly arrived at the scene and exchanged fire with the gunmen. Eye-witnesses described how students cowered under desks as dead bodies were strewn along corridors. News images of the aftermath of the attack showed boys in blood-soaked school uniforms with green blazers being carried from the scene.

After a nine-hour battle Pakistani special forces killed all nine terrorists. During this witnesses described hearing heavy gun fire and explosions.

A military source said that seven army personnel, including two officers, were wounded in the fighting.

The gunmen, who several students said communicated with each other in a foreign language, managed to slip past the school's tight security because they were wearing Pakistani military uniforms. 

Amir Sohail Khan, 19, told MailOnline how he was at his college a few kilometres away from the school when he heard about the attack. 

He said: 'I heard about it around 11 at my college. Then my uncle gave me a call and asked me to reach the school to check the whereabouts of my young cousins. One is seven and other is nine. It took me more than 45 minutes to reach the spot as army closed down all the roads and streets leading to school.' 

He said that went to the main gate of the school around 12:30. 

He continued: 'I saw a few soldiers trying to encircle a young man who was wearing a similar uniform to them. When soldiers tried to approach him, there was a huge blast. The other guy was one of the terrorists. This was such a horrible scene. 

'For a few moments, I couldn't understand what was going on. I saw his body parts flying in the air after the blast. One of the soldiers was badly injured.'

THE SHOCKING, HEARTBREAKING EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE ATTACK

A 10-year-old boy caught up in the massacre has spoken of his dramatic escape from Taliban gunmen as bullets whizzed past his head - having seen two of his classmates shot dead in front of him.

Irfan Shah told how he was sitting in his class at 10:30 when he heard the sound of firing outside.

Shah told MailOnline: 'It was our social studies period. Our teacher first told us that some kind of drill was going on and that we do not need to worry. It was very intense firing. Then the sound came closer. Then we heard cries. One of our friends open the window of the class.

'He started weeping as there were several school fellows lying on the ground outside the class.

'Everybody was in panic. Two of our class fellows ran outside class in panic. They were shot in front of us.'

He said that the teacher asked the children, part of a class of 33, to run towards the back gate of the school.

He continued: 'The back gate is around 200 meters from our class room. I tightly held the hand of my friend Daniyal and we both ran towards the back gate. We were weeping. I felt bullets passing by my head twice. It was so terrible.

'We reached back gate in a minute. As we stepped outside the gate, we started weeping again very loudly. An aunt from a nearby house heard us and took us inside her house. We were shivering. She gave us water and comforted us. We stayed there for 15 minutes.

'Our van always parked a few hundred meters away from the school. We then went to our van. The van driver told us that our school fellows who have been murdered in the attack are martyrs and they would go to jannah (paradise).

'We have been told that two of our class fellows died in the attack. They both were shot in front of all of us.'

Amir Sohail Khan, 19, told MailOnline how he was at his college a few kilometres away from the school when he heard about the attack.

He said: 'I heard about it around 11 at my college. Then my uncle gave me a call and asked me to reach the school to check the whereabouts of my young cousins. One is seven and other is nine. It took me more than 45 minutes to reach the spot as army closed down all the roads and streets leading to school.'

He said that went to the main gate of the school around 12:30.

He continued: 'I saw a few soldiers trying to encircle a young man who was wearing a similar uniform to them. When soldiers tried to approach him, there was a huge blast. The other guy was one of the terrorists. This was such a horrible scene.

'For a few moments, I couldn't understand what was going on. I saw his body parts flying in the air after the blast. One of the soldiers was badly injured.'

Khan also saw terrorists firing indiscriminately in the class rooms on the second floor of the building.

He said: 'It is a huge double story building. I saw a terrorist getting into a classroom and firing like anything. Then I heard the cries and most of those crying became silent after a few minutes which means either they died or fainted.'

A soldier told him that the kids who had successfully managed to get out of school were in a nearby park.

He added: 'I went there but couldn't find my cousins among those kids. A soldier on told me that they might have died in the attack. I could not even imagine that. After, a few minutes I saw the elder one coming towards the park. I was never so happy and relieved to see him. He was weeping and shivering with fear. I held him to my chest. It was great feeling.

'Five minutes after him, my younger cousin also appeared. I lost my senses in happiness after seeing him. Our family is blessed. I saw mothers and fathers crying like mad at the gate of the school. I do not believe that we are so blessed.'

Mohammad Muneeb told how his 14-year-old brother Muhammad Shaheer was shot dead in front of him as 200 children sat in an auditorium, getting training in first aid.

'Two guards were there, sitting on the desk at the front, when four people wearing black uniform ran in. They just started firing. First they targeted the brigadier and his guards, the two guards were killed.

'The brigadier managed to get away safely and they started firing at the students.

'I saw my own brother die, he was shot in the throat.'

A school volunteer who did not want to be named described the auditorium shooting: 'I was working with the other organisations. What I saw was indescribable. I was in the auditorium when they burst in, it was 1030 when they broke in to the school. There was a function in the auditorium, they just opened fire on everyone. They just started firing and shooting violently with AK47s.

'There was around 200 children in the auditorium, all boys.'

Father Muhammad Dahir, a computer engineer, said: 'I am so sad, I cannot explain my feelings. I cannot speak. There are dead bodies everywhere. This city is filled with dead bodies. I cannot explain my feelings. What kind of horror are we involved in? We are in the frontline here. Everyone is pushing us, the Americans, our own government.'

Pharmacist Ahmed Salman, whose 15-year-old son was killed, said: 'I took my son to school this morning and I was at work when someone told me there was firing in the school. I went there and saw children being taken out in ambulances. I was searching but I could not find him. My younger brother called me and told me that Ahmed's body was lying in the mortuary of the military hospital.

'He had a bullet in his lungs.'

Mudassar Abbas, a physics laboratory assistant at the school, said some students were celebrating at a party when the attack began.

'I saw six or seven people walking class-to-class and opening fire on children,' he said.

Mudassir Awan, an employee at the school, said he saw at least six people scaling the walls of the building, but initially thought little of it.

'We thought it must be the children playing some game. But then we saw a lot of firearms with them,' he said.

'As soon as the firing started, we ran to our classrooms. They were entering every class and they were killing the children,' he added.

One of the wounded students, Abdullah Jamal, said he was with a group of 8th, 9th and 10th graders who were getting first-aid instructions and training with a team of Pakistani army medics when the attack began.

When the shooting started, Mr Jamal, who was shot in the leg, said nobody knew what was going on in the first few seconds.

'Then I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell down. I learned later that I have got a bullet,' he said, speaking from his hospital bed.

'All the children had bullet wounds. All the children were bleeding,' he added.

Akhtar Ali, who works out for the UN, was weeping outside the school.

He told MailOnline: 'My 14-year-old niece Afaq is inside the school. I don't know if she is alive or dead. I am desperate. I am just waiting in hope. It is agony. '

'My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,' wailed one parent, Tahir Ali, as he came to the hospital to collect the body of his 14-year-old son, Abdullah.

'My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.'

MailOnline spoke to Naveed Ahmed, who works at the irrigation department. He said: 'My son Hasid Asmad is 16-years-old, is still inside the school., He took a mobile and called me while I was in the mosque, he was praying down the phone. I have been waiting so many hours for news. My son told that he was being kept safe by the Pakistan army inside. They are taking a picture of them to prove they are safe.

'They have told me that the children are safe in the custody of the army.'

Mrs Humayun Khan, one of the mothers of a student, said with tears in her eyes: 'No body is telling me about my son's whereabouts... I have checked the hospital and he is not there. I am really losing my heart. God forbid may he's not among the students still under custody of terrorists.'

A student who survived the attack said soldiers came to rescue students during a lull in the firing.

'When we were coming out of the class we saw dead bodies of our friends lying in the corridors. They were bleeding. Some were shot three times, some four times,' the student said.

'The men entered the rooms one by one and started indiscriminate firing at the staff and students.'

Zakir Ahmad, who runs an electronics store in Peshawar, has lost his 16-year-old Abdullah and is frantically searching for 12-year-old Hassnain, who is still missing hours after the atrocity.

Crying and barely able to speak, he told MailOnline: 'When I heard there was an attack I ran to the school. I heard firing. I sent my cousins and staff to search the hospitals while I stayed praying at school. Then after an hour I got the call, he just said Abdullah is dead. I have found him in the hospital. I still don't know anything about my boy Hasnain.

'This is a terrible injustice. We are innocent people, by boys are innocents who do not carry guns and bombs. The only justice for me is to find these people who are supporting extremists and hang them in rows. Make them die for what they did.

'My son was such a good boy. Obedient, bright. When he was going to school this morning he came into my room and kissed me.'

Shahrukh Khan, 15, was shot in both legs but survived after hiding under a bench.

'One of my teachers was crying, she was shot in the hand and she was crying in pain,' he said as he lay on a bed in Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital.

'One terrorist then walked up to her and started shooting her until she stopped making any sound. All around me my friends were lying injured and dead.'

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People carry a coffin of a student killed by the Taliban in today's massacre

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Taliban gunmen stormed a military school in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar 

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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

Khan also saw terrorists firing indiscriminately in the class rooms on the second floor of the building.

He said: 'It is a huge double story building. I saw a terrorist getting into a classroom and firing like anything. Then I heard the cries and most of those crying became silent after a few minutes which means either they died or fainted.' 

A soldier told him that the kids who had successfully managed to get out of school were in a nearby park. 

He added: 'I went there but couldn't find my cousins among those kids. A soldier on told me that they might have died in the attack. I could not even imagine that. After, a few minutes I saw the elder one coming towards the park. I was never so happy and relieved to see him. He was weeping and shivering with fear. I held him to my chest. It was great feeling. 

'Five minutes after him, my younger cousin also appeared. I lost my senses in happiness after seeing him. Our family is blessed. I saw mothers and fathers crying like mad at the gate of the school. I do not believe that we are so blessed.'  

Mohammad Muneeb told how his 14-year-old brother Muhammad Shaheer was shot dead in front of him as 200 children sat in an auditorium, getting training in first aid.

'Two guards were there, sitting on the desk at the front, when four people wearing black uniform ran in. They just started firing. First they targeted the brigadier and his guards, the two guards were killed.

'The brigadier managed to get away safely and they started firing at the students.

'I saw my own brother die, he was shot in the throat.' 

A school volunteer who did not want to be named described the auditorium shooting: 'I was working with the other organisations. What I saw was indescribable. I was in the auditorium when they burst in, it was 1030 when they broke in to the school. There was a function in the auditorium, they just opened fire on everyone. They just started firing and shooting violently with AK47s.

'There was around 200 children in the auditorium, all boys.' 

Father Muhammad Dahir, a computer engineer, said: 'I am so sad, I cannot explain my feelings. I cannot speak. There are dead bodies everywhere. This city is filled with dead bodies. I cannot explain my feelings. What kind of horror are we involved in? We are in the frontline here. Everyone is pushing us, the Americans, our own government.' 

Pharmacist Ahmed Salman, whose 15-year-old son was killed, said: 'I took my son to school this morning and I was at work when someone told me there was firing in the school. I went there and saw children being taken out in ambulances. I was searching but I could not find him. My younger brother called me and told me that Ahmed's body was lying in the mortuary of the military hospital.

'He had a bullet in his lungs.' 

Mudassar Abbas, a physics laboratory assistant at the school, said some students were celebrating at a party when the attack began.

'I saw six or seven people walking class-to-class and opening fire on children,' he said.

Mudassir Awan, an employee at the school, said he saw at least six people scaling the walls of the building, but initially thought little of it.

'We thought it must be the children playing some game. But then we saw a lot of firearms with them,' he said.

'As soon as the firing started, we ran to our classrooms. They were entering every class and they were killing the children,' he added.  

One of the wounded students, Abdullah Jamal, said he was with a group of 8th, 9th and 10th graders who were getting first-aid instructions and training with a team of Pakistani army medics when the attack began.

When the shooting started, Mr Jamal, who was shot in the leg, said nobody knew what was going on in the first few seconds.

'Then I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell down. I learned later that I have got a bullet,' he said, speaking from his hospital bed.

'All the children had bullet wounds. All the children were bleeding,' he added. 

Bahramand Khan, director of information for the regional Chief Minister's Secretariat, said at least 126 people were killed and 122 wounded.

'It may rise,' he said, adding that more than 100 of the dead were school children. A local hospital said the dead and wounded it had seen were aged between 10 and 20 years old.  

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Pakistani army personnel leave the school following the attack

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A Pakistani girl, who was injured in the attack, is rushed to a hospital in Peshawar

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A hospital security guard helps a student injured in a shootout at a military school in Peshawar

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Pakistani security forces takes up positions on a road leading to the Army Public School

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Ambulances drive away from the military run school, which was attacked by the Taliban in the early hours

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School was stormed by six gunmen in military fatigues , it was reported

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A Pakistani soldier takes up a position above a road near the school

Earlier, at least three explosions were heard inside the high school, and a MailOnline journalist at the scene said he heard heavy gunfire.

A security official speaking on condition of anonymity said two helicopter gunships are on site, but had been prevented from firing on the militants because students and teachers were inside the building.

Outside, as the helicopters rumbled overhead, police struggled to hold back distraught parents who were trying to break past a security cordon and get into the school. 

Akhtar Ali, who works out for the UN, was weeping outside.

He told MailOnline: 'My 14-year-old niece Afaq is inside the school. I don't know if she is alive or dead. I am desperate. I am just waiting in hope. It is agony. '

'My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,' wailed one parent, Tahir Ali, as he came to the hospital to collect the body of his 14-year-old son, Abdullah.

'My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.' 

MailOnline spoke to Naveed Ahmed, who works at the irrigation department. He said: 'My son Hasid Asmad is 16-years-old, is still inside the school., He took a mobile and called me while I was in the mosque, he was praying down the phone. I have been waiting so many hours for news. My son told that he was being kept safe by the Pakistan army inside. They are taking a picture of them to prove they are safe.

'They have told me that the children are safe in the custody of the army.' 

Mrs Humayun Khan, one of the mothers of a student, said with tears in her eyes: 'No body is telling me about my son's whereabouts... I have checked the hospital and he is not there. I am really losing my heart. God forbid may he's not among the students still under custody of terrorists.'

A student who survived the attack said soldiers came to rescue students during a lull in the firing.

'When we were coming out of the class we saw dead bodies of our friends lying in the corridors. They were bleeding. Some were shot three times, some four times,' the student said.

'The men entered the rooms one by one and started indiscriminate firing at the staff and students.' 

Zakir Ahmad, who runs an electronics store in Peshawar, has lost his 16-year-old Abdullah and is frantically searching for 12-year-old Hassnain, who is still missing hours after the atrocity.

Crying and barely able to speak, he told MailOnline: 'When I heard there was an attack I ran to the school. I heard firing. I sent my cousins and staff to search the hospitals while I stayed praying at school. Then after an hour I got the call, he just said Abdullah is dead. I have found him in the hospital. I still don't know anything about my boy Hasnain.

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Horror: A school boy who was injured in the Taliban attack receives medical treatment at a hospital in Peshawar

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Relatives of a student, who was injured during the attack, comfort each other outside Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar

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An armored personnel carrier moves toward the school

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Pakistani army troops arrive to take on the Taliban attackers

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An army helicopter flies over the Army Public School that was attacked earlier today

'This is a terrible injustice. We are innocent people, my boys are innocents who do not carry guns and bombs. The only justice for me is to find these people who are supporting extremists and hang them in rows. Make them die for what they did.

'My son was such a good boy. Obedient, bright. When he was going to school this morning he came into my room and kissed me.'

Mushtaq Ghani, the spokesman for the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told journalist Aamir Iqbal: 'At least six militants wearing military uniforms entered the school from back wall of the school that is known as 'Army Public School'.

'There is a graveyard attached to back wall of the school that is run by Pakistani Military, most of the students studying in this school were children of military officers.

'Attacking innocent children is the most abominable crime and such an attack will not be accepted at all.

'This can be the reaction of ongoing military operations against terrorists in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan.'

Student Shuja khan claimed that 'the attack took place the time a senior military officer started his address during the function that was going on inside the school'.

He added: 'I am not sure but he was the Corp Commander Peshawar who when he started his speech terrorists opened fire on the students sitting in the function.'

THE PAKISTAN TALIBAN: A HISTORY OF SLAUGHTER 

Over 1,000 schools have been destroyed by the Pakistan Taliban since 2010, but today's massacre isn't just the worst atrocity carried out on a school, but on any target.

In May 2010, members of the organisation stormed two mosques packed with worshippers, throwing grenades and indiscriminately opening fire. The ensuring shootout and hostage situation left 94 dead and more than 120 injured.

Up to 2,000 worshippers were thought to have been in the two mosques in Lahore, Pakistan's second city, when the two groups of at least seven gunmen and three suicide bombers struck as traditional Friday prayers ended.

In June this year, the Pakistan Taliban killed 29 people in a terrifying siege on Karachi Airport when ten gunmen dressed as Airport Security Force officials stormed Terminal One.

Armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, they triggered a gun battle that raged for 10 hours and left dozens dead and wounded.

Afterwards, the group claimed the attack was revenge for the death of its leader Shahidullah Shahid. It was believed they militants intended to destroy or hijack aircraft before they were stopped by the security personnel and commandos.

Angered at US drone strikes on its mountain retreats, in June last year a group of Taliban gunmen slaughtered 10 tourists at the base of Nanga Parbat, in an attack that sent shockwaves through the climbing community.

The gunmen were wearing uniforms used by the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary police force that patrols the area. They abducted two local guides to find their way to the remote base camp - one of which was killed in the shooting.

The Taliban has also attempted to enforce its opposition to women's rights to education through violence. In January last year, five female teachers were massacred when militants ambushed a van transporting them home from their jobs at a community centre.

The teachers and two health workers - one man and one woman - were killed in the conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when the militants on motorcycles opened fire with automatic weapons.

It was in this region that a Taliban gunman shot 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai in the head last October for criticizing the militants and promoting girls' education. Last week she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

However, the bloodshed in Pakistan pales in comparison to the violence perpetrated by the neighbouring Afghanistan Taliban.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the organisation has been held responsible for several massacres in the cities of Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif that left thousands dead.

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Taliban gunmen stormed a military school in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar

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A school boy who was injured in the Taliban attack receives medical treatment at a hospital in Peshawar

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Taking no chances: Pakistani security forces form a perimeter around the school

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A soldier escorts schoolchildren after they were rescued from the Army Public School

Mohammad Khorasani, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban group - known as Tehrik-i-Taliban -  accepted responsibility for the attack.

He said: 'It's a gift for those who thought they have crushed us in their so called military operation in North Waziristan.

'They [the Pakistani military] were always wrong about our capabilities, We are still able to carry out major attacks. Today was just the trailer.

'Six of our Mujahideen, including three suicide bombers took part in this attack and with the grace of almighty they all executed the plan very accurately.

'We selected the army's school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females. We want them to feel the pain.'

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the massacre a 'national tragedy' and is on his way to the area.  

WHY THE PAKISTANI TALIBAN PREFERS 'SOFT TARGETS' 

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.

The schools educate the children of both officers and non-commissioned soldiers and army wives often teach in them.

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.'

Zarb-e-Azb is the official name for the army's offensive against strongholds of the Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan.

The military has hailed the operation as a major success in disrupting the TTP's insurgency, which has killed thousands of Pakistanis since it erupted in 2007.

More than 1,600 militants have been killed since the launch of Zarb-e-Azb in June, according to data compiled by AFP from regular military statements.

Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst, said the attack was intended to weaken the military's resolve.

'It is both tactical and strategic. The militants know they won't be able to strike at the heart of the military, they don't have the capacity because the army are prepared,' Masood told AFP.

'So they are going for soft targets. These attacks have a great psychological impact.'

The semi-autonomous tribal areas that border Afghanistan have for years been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes - including Al-Qaeda and the homegrown TTP as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.

Washington pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out the sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which militants have used to launch attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan.

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People carry the casket of a victim of the Taliban attack, after receiving it from a local hospital in Peshawar

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Prime Minister David Cameron today said the Taliban attack on the military school was 'deeply shocking'

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Details were sketchy in the unfolding situation and it was unclear what was going on inside the school and if any of the students were taken hostage

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Mohammad Khorasani, the spokesman for Pakistani's Taliban Fazal Ullah group, accepted responsibility for the attack 

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A man talks on a phone, with his arm around a student, during the attack

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A plainclothes security officer escorts students rescued from a nearby school

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Schoolchildren cross a road as they move away from the military run school

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Pakistani rescue workers take out students from an ambulance injured in the shootout

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Taliban gunmen took hundreds of students hostage in this military-run school

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Heavily armed Pakistani troops arrive at the scene

TIME-LINE OF TERROR 

A look at some of the major attacks in Pakistan in recent years:

2014

- Nov. 2: Taliban suicide bomber kills 60 in attack on a paramilitary checkpoint close to the Wagah border crossing with India.

- June 9: Ten gunmen disguised as police guards attack a terminal at Pakistan's busiest airport with machine guns and a rocket launcher, killing 13 people during a five-hour siege.

- 8 June: A suicide bomber in the country's southwest killed at least 23 Shiite pilgrims returning from Iran.

2013

-Sept. 22: A twin suicide bomb blast in a Peshawar church kills at least 85 people.

-Aug. 17: Heavily armed Taliban fighters blast their way into a Pakistani air force base, leaving two security officers and nine insurgents dead.

-June 22: 10 Foreign climbers killed by militants on Nanga Parbat, ninth highest mountain in world.

-March 3: Explosion in Karachi kills 45 Shiites outside a mosque.

- Jan. 10: Bombing in Shiite area of southern city of Quetta kills 81 people, wounds 120.

2012

- Nov. 22: A Taliban suicide bomber struck a Shiite Muslim procession in the city of Rawalpindi, near Pakistan's capital, killing 23 people.

- Jan. 5: Taliban shoot and kill 15 Pakistani frontier police after holding them hostage for more than a year.

2011

- Sept. 20: Militants kill at least 26 Shiites on a bus near the southern city of Quetta.

- May 23: Pakistani commandos recapture a major naval base from Taliban attackers who struck to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. raid. Militants destroyed two U.S.-supplied surveillance aircraft and killed at least 10 personnel.

- May 13: A pair of Taliban suicide bombers attacks paramilitary police recruits in Shabqadar, killing 80, also in retaliation for bin Laden's killing.

2010

- Nov. 5: A suicide bomber strikes a Sunni mosque in Darra Adam Khel in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 67 during Friday prayers.

- Sept. 1: A triple Taliban suicide attack on a Shiite Muslim procession kills 65 in the southwestern city of Quetta.

- July 9: Two suicide bombers kills 102 people in the Mohmand tribal region.

- July 2: Suicide bombers attack Pakistan's most revered Sufi shrine in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 47 people.

- May 29: Two militant squads armed with hand grenades, suicide vests and assault rifles attack two mosques of the Ahmadi minority sect in Lahore, killing 97.

- March 13: Two suicide bombers targeting army vehicles in Lahore kill more than 55 people.

- Jan. 1: A suicide bomber drives a truckload of explosives into a volleyball field in Lakki Marwat district in the northwest, killing at least 97 people.

2009

- Dec. 28: Bomb blast kills at least 44 at a Shiite procession in the southern city of Karachi.

- Dec. 7: Two bombs kill 48 at a market in the eastern city of Lahore, while a suicide bomber kills 10 people outside a Peshawar courthouse.

- Oct. 9: A suicide car bomber hits a busy market area in Peshawar, killing 53.

- May 27: A suicide car bomber targets police and intelligence offices in the eastern city of Lahore, killing about 30 people.

- March 27: A suicide bomber demolishes a packed mosque near the northwestern town of Jamrud, killing about 50. 

Prime Minister David Cameron today said the Taliban attack on the military school was 'deeply shocking'.

'It's horrifying that children are being killed simply for going to school,' he said. 

Education campaigner and Nobel peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban, has condemned the 'atrocious and cowardly' attack on a school in Pakistan. She said: 'I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us.' 

'The United States strongly condemns senseless and inhumane attacks on innocent students and educators, and stands in solidarity with the people of Pakistan, and all who fight the menace of terrorism. Few have suffered more at the hands of terrorists and extremists than the people of Pakistan,' U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson said in a statement.  

The Pakistani Taliban have targeted security forces, checkpoints, military bases and airports, but attacks on civilian targets with no logistical significance are relatively rare.

In September, 2013, dozens of people, including many children, were killed in an attack on a church, also in Peshawar.

Meanwhile, Russell Brand faced an online backlash after accusing the U.S. of terrorism as the attack in Pakistan unfolded.

The comedian posted on Twitter a link to a YouTube video in which he speaks to former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg.

Alongside the link he tweeted: 'The people who do 'terror' best are the people who decide what 'terror' is.'

But others on the microblogging website reacted angrily to the self-styled revolutionary, who uses the handle @rustyrockets.

They highlighted how his tweet coincided with news that more than 100 children had been killed in the Taliban assault.

Nate Anderson wrote: 'Bad timing given what's just happened in Pakistan dude. Bad bad timing'.

Colin Wright, a professor of International Relations, added: '@rustyrockets you do talk some crap at times. Not all the time but I'm seeing more and more of it. You tweet this while Pakistan unfolds.'

Another Twitter user Mark Lott wrote: 'I guess you haven't seen the news from Pakistan today yet. @rustyrockets'.

Brand's interview with Moazzam Begg appears to have taken place at his flat in Hoxton, east London.

The YouTube video was titled: 'CIA Torture - Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Lifts Lid: Russell Brand The Trews (E211)'.

Begg, from Birmingham, was held by the U.S. government in Bagram, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after being arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and was released without charge in 2005.

Russell Brand recently faced criticism on Twitter when he tweeted the mobile phone number of a reporter who had requested an interview.

The Peshawar school massacre came as Pakistani Taliban insurgents launched a massive attack in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province.

Thousands of militants crossed the border from Pakistan and stormed Dangam district, forcing local security to call in the help of the Afghan National Army, who have so far killed 18 insurgents and wounded 28 others during intense firefights.

About 2,000 insurgents are involved in the battle said Kunar province's police chief, Abdul Habib Saidkhail, who added that almost of those killed or injured were of Pakistani origin.

The Pakistani Taliban is an ally of the better known Taliban over the border in Afghanistan, but operates as an entirely separate organisation.

In September the Pakistani Taliban declared its support for the Islamic State and vowed to send fighters to assist the terror group as it was wages bloody war in Syria and Iraq.

'Oh our brothers, we are proud of you in your victories. We are with you in your happiness and your sorrow,' Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in a statement issued to mark the Muslim holy festival of Eid al-Adha.

'In these troubled days, we call for your patience and stability, especially now that all your enemies are united against you. Please put all your rivalries behind you,' he added.

'All Muslims in the world have great expectations of you. We are with you, we will provide you with Mujahideen [fighters] with every possible support,' he said.

PAKISTAN WAS BRACED FOR BLOOD THIRSTY ATTACK BUT HIS HORRIFYING ASSAULT ON INNOCENTS IS A SIGN OF TALIBAN WEAKNESS

Pakistan has been braced for this kind of bloodthirsty attack. It is the savage response to a military crackdown on the group's tribal heartlands, which claims to have wiped out hundreds of militants.

This is, after all, a terror group that has made widespread use of suicide bombing, attacked hundreds of schools, massacred teachers, shot a schoolgirl who dared show defiance to them and even killed hundreds of worshippers at mosques and shrines. 

Yet it is also a reaction to shifting geopolitics in the region since the election of a new president in Afghanistan, which threatens the Taliban even in its traditional stronghold. Analysts say the sickening slaughter of schoolchildren symbolises its sudden weakness.

Clearly it is designed to send a message written in blood to the military that claims to have cleared the Taliban from much of its regional stronghold in the country. But it is hard to think of a softer target than a school filled with army children and, for all the horror, may indicate the success of concerted attacks on the long-feared terrorist organisation.

As one expert said, this cruel shift in tactics to such an easy target is designed to make a spectacular statement with the least possible cost for the Taliban.

For years Islamabad resisted attacking the fanatics in North Waziristan, on the north-west frontier with Afghanistan. Both countries blamed their neighbours for harbouring terrorists - with strong justification.

But in recent months Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the militant's umbrella group that has killed thousands of people in Pakistan, has come under new pressure.

First a US drone strike killed long-haired leader Hakimullah Mehsud late last year - and his successor has struggled to hold together the organisation as it came under fierce attack.

Splits have been evident with some senior figures pledging allegiance to the leader of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, while others recently launched a splinter group of al-Qa'ida in the Indian sub-continent.

Bombing raids were launched from the air on the Taliban's north-western strongholds in February. These were followed four months later by Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which has since killed more than 1,600 militants.

The recent election of Ashraf Ghani as president of Afghanistan, combined with improved relations between Islamabad and Washington as well as with Kabul, has made life tougher for the terrorists on both sides of the border.

Over the past fortnight there have been a series of counter-insurgency assaults on the Taliban in Afghanistan. On one day this month a US drone killed nine leading militants and a senior commander captured by US troops in Afghanistan was handed over to Islamabad.

'This is something new - Afghanistan and Pakistan seem to have finally realised they have a common enemy,' said Gareth Price, senior research fellow with Chatham House think tank. 'Lashing out at schoolchildren in this way is a sign of weakness.

The TTP made it clear this horrific attack in Peshawar was a response to the military operation and the wiping out of its fighters.

There have been other recent outrages in reaction to the assaults on its heartland. In June ten militants armed with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and suicide bomb vests mounted a raid on Karachi airport that left 28 people dead and damaged several planes.

Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst, said this latest attack was designed to weaken military resolve. 'They are going for soft targets,' he said. 'These attacks have a great psychological impact.'

Although Pakistan has long worried about cracking down on militants, fearing the kind of bloodbaths as seen in Karachi and Peshawar, its operations have led to a substantial fall in the number of terrorist attacks in the country.

Yet Naveed Ahmad, an investigative journalist and security analyst, said the country had been expecting a backlash. 'These people have been looking for an opportunity and the trouble is our security is so superficial, which makes it easier for them.

'No-one is ever held accountable for the security failures. So we saw no-one fired after the airport attack, for instance.'

Others queried whether even this attack on a school, killing scores of innocent pupils, will change attitudes.

Two months ago 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai - shot in the head by Taliban militants - became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaigning on female education. Yet the honour received scant mention in much of the Pakistan media, criticism from prominent figures in the country and scathing attacks on social media.

IAN BIRRELL 

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School children rescued from the attack are taken away by Pakistani soldiers