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Pakistan to Respond to School Attack

by VOA News December 17, 2014

Pakistani officials are taking steps to respond to Tuesday's Taliban assault on a school in Peshawar while the nation begins three days of mourning for the 132 children and nine staff members who died.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved an order Wednesday lifting a moratorium on the death penalty in terror cases that had been in place since 2008.

Sharif has also pledged to continue a military offensive against militants in the country's northwestern tribal region, near the Afghan border.

The Pakistani Taliban said it carried out Tuesday's attack in retaliation for the army's push to go after the insurgents.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence Rizwan Akhtar headed to Kabul on Wednesday to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and U.S. General John Campbell, who heads NATO forces in Afghanistan.

VOA's Ayaz Gul said the visit is unprecedented and could signal a break in what had been improved relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Gul said a recent visit to Pakistan by Ghani had helped reduce tensions between the two countries, but this attack may raise tensions again.

Pakistani Taliban fighters have long used the North Waziristan region to provide refuge for Afghan insurgents who cross over the porous border.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai also often accused the Pakistani military of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, which Pakistan denies.

World condemnation

Tuesday's attack brought condemnation from the world, including from the United Nation's Security Council, which labeled it a 'depraved and savage' act of terror against children.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the militants showed cowardice, and that 'no cause can justify such brutality.'

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed condolences in a phone call to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, saying the United States stands in solidarity and support of Pakistan in the fight against terror.

Authorities said the attack began when seven militants, carrying ammunition and explosives, used a ladder to scale a back wall at the school, which houses more than 1,000 students and staff. When they reached a student assembly in a packed auditorium, they opened fire.

From there, witnesses said the attackers went from classroom to classroom, methodically killing everyone they could reach. The militants also wounded another 121 children and three staff members.

MIlitary spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa said all of the attackers were killed in hours-long gun battles with Pakistani troops, who swarmed the facility.