Pak school attack death toll climbs to 148

Peshawar, Dec 17: Seven more adults wounded in the brutal terror attack on a school run by Pakistan army here succumbed to their injuries today, taking the number of those fallen to the bullets of Taliban militants to 148, most of them children.

The attack on Army Public School on Warsak Road yesterday was the most gruesome militant assault in Pakistan's history, bringing international condemnation and outrage. [Peshawar terror attack: As it happened]

At least six Pakistani Taliban gunmen stormed the school and went from room to room shooting indiscriminately.

A total of 132 children, in the first through 10th grades, died in the bloodbath. Military spokesperson Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said that some adults died in the hospital today, taking the overall toll to 148.

The Army today organised a guided tour for mediapersons of the school campus, including the auditorium where students were being trained in first aid and medical emergencies.

The entire building wore a ghastly look with blood stained floors of deserted buildings depicting the horror of the attack. Window panes were broken and walls bore bullet marks.

Mediapersons were shown the school bags, shoes, hand-bags, mobile phones and other belongings of the victims. Bajwa said militants massacred about 100 students in the auditorium. They shot those who tried to escape, he added.

The spokesman said the principal of the school who had locked himself inside a bathroom was killed in a blast when a hand grenade was hurled at him through a ventilator.

Pakistan today held mass funerals for the victims, many of whose bodies were pulled from the school still wearing their green uniforms drenched in blood.

People offered prayers for the dead while they also wished for early recovery of those injured in the bloodshed.

The TTP has claimed the attack as revenge for an army operation in the north, saying they wanted the army to "feel the pain" they had felt at losing loved ones.

PTI