U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned a deadly Taliban attack on a Pakistan school on Tuesday (December 16) as “an act of horror and rank cowardice to attack defenseless children while they learn.”
“No cause can justify such brutality. No grievance can excuse such horror,” Ban said. “Getting an education is every child’s right. Going to school should not have to be an act of bravery.”
At least 130 people, most of them children, were killed on Tuesday after Taliban gunmen broke into a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and opened fire, witnesses said, in the bloodiest massacre the country has seen for years.
“I extend my deepest condolences to the people, government and particularly, to those touched by today’s tragedy. The United Nations will continue to support the efforts of the Pakistani authorities in their fight against terrorism and extremism. I urge the government of Pakistan to make every effort to bring the perpetuators to justice,” said Ban in closing.
The attack on the military-run school was lauded by Taliban insurgents as revenge for the killings of their own relatives by the Pakistani army.
Reuters interviews with witnesses showed most victims were shot in the first hours of the assault when gunmen sprayed the premises with bullets in an indiscriminate massacre.
It was possible that some were also killed in the ensuing gunfight with Pakistani armed forces who stormed the building.
The school, on the edge of the country’s turbulent tribal belt, is operated by the army. Although it enrolls some civilian students, many of its pupils are children of army officials, the Taliban’s intended target. (Reuters)
