Pakistani soldiers remain on patrol on the streets of Peshawar overnight, and the army could now push for a more drastic response in the aftermath of Tuesday's attack. You can get all the latest updates on this and other stories on the BBC News website. Thanks for staying with us.

This brings to an end our live coverage of the storming of the army-run school in Peshawar by Taliban gunmen. The attack left at least 141 people dead - 132 of them children - and many others wounded.

Image source, AP

tweets, external: Nothing I've ever reported before prepared me for today. My thoughts today were utterly selfish: my brothers, parents, my heartbeats. Be safe

In the aftermath of the attack it may now be dawning on Pakistan's generals and politicians that Sunni extremists present an existential threat to their own country, a commentary in the Financial Times , externalsays. It describes events on Tuesday as "one of the darkest days in the country's history".

tweets, external: Afghan Taliban: "The Islamic Emirate...is shocked at the incident and shares the pain of the families of children killed in the attack."

Mike Wooldridge
BBC World Affairs correspondent

The Afghan Taliban have criticised Tuesday's attack as un-Islamic. The group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that they were sending their condolences to the families of the children killed in the attack and shared their sadness. The Afghan Taliban are stepping up their attacks in Afghanistan and share roots with the Pakistani Taliban. They usually share the same ideology too.

tweets, external: Seems stupid, but even this twitter catharsis is therapeutic. Feel stronger knowing I'm not alone & many, many others share my anger, pain

The deputy leader of the PTI party - which leads the coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province - tells the BBC that no amount of security could prevent random acts of violence from occurring. Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that provincial capital Peshawar is always on a state of high alert, adding that the people of Pakistan needed to be united in facing their enemies and that a "collective strategy" was necessary to deal with the "menace of terrorism".

PTI chief Imran Khan has announced that he will call off his 18 December nationwide strike following the massacre in the school, the APP news agency says.

Image source, AFP

Pakistani mourners carry the coffin of a teacher during his funeral following the attack by Taliban gunmen on a school in Peshawar.

Schools in Pakistan have long been in the crosshairs, the Guardian's Jason Burke, external writes. More than 1,000 have been destroyed by Islamist militants from one faction or another in the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the past five years. The institutions are seen to represent un-Islamic government authority.

James Robbins
Diplomatic correspondent

says previous terrorist attacks in Pakistan have not produced consistent responses from the authorities. The 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killed 53 people, prompting the the government and the military to launch a major offensive, but they remained divided over who to blame: extremists citing Islam, or America for going after them. In 2012, Pakistani Taliban gunmen seriously injured the 14-year-old campaigner for girls' rights Malala Yousafzai, accused of "promoting secularism". Again, there was a brief upsurge of anger... Then, this June government peace talks with the Taliban collapsed after a murderous assault on Karachi's international airport,.

Image source, AP

Pakistani army spokesman Maj Gen Asim Bajwa - who provided detailed information about the attack - on Tuesday was at the centre of attention of the Pakistani and world media.

"We support the measures undertaken by the government of Pakistan aimed at the extermination of the hotbeds of terrorism," a statement by the Russian foreign ministry quoted by the APP says. "We expect Pakistan to continue with its uncompromising struggle to eliminate the extremist infrastructure. Russia is ready to proceed with assisting the Pakistani government in its efforts to fight terror."

emails: I am studying in my first year. Should I be killed too? This act completely showed that terrorists are not against the children of Pakistan but against humanity. Isn't this our right to get an education?

tweets:, external In the wake of dastardly attack in Pakistan, I appeal to schools across India to observe 2 mins of silence tomorrow as a mark of solidarity.

Indian PM Narindra Modi has telephoned his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to express his deep grief and sorrow over the killing of innocent people in Peshawar, the Pakistani APP news agency reports.

Shaimaa Khalil
BBC News, Peshawar

tweets:, external Insidel Lady Reading hospital -This man learned that his brother was killed in #PeshawarSchoolAttack more @bbcnews Six

On air at 1800GMT the BBC's World Have Your Say will be speaking to people across Pakistan, to hear reaction to the attack. Listen Live here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02dwbkn) and get in touch; you can tweet us @BBC_WHYS.

The Pakistani APP news agency has produced a chronology of the attack:

• Initially a suicide bomber managed to enter the auditorium of the school where a seminar was under way and blew himself up amid a group of students

• Other armed militants wearing military uniforms then forced their way into the school, some firing indiscriminately and others taking the principal, about 20 teachers and a group of 34 students hostage for eight hours

• The army operation against the militants began at 10:00 local time (05:00 GMT) and ended at 18:00 (13:00 GMT). The teachers and students held hostage were freed

• Four of the attackers blew themselves up while two were shot dead by the security forces at midday

• The last two gunmen, who were holding the teachers and pupils, were shot dead after a fierce gun battle (other reports suggested seven gunmen were involved in the attack)