Summary

  • Officials say more than 140 people, mostly children, have been killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in north-west Pakistan

  • Pakistan's security forces say their operation has now ended, with all seven attackers killed

  • Some pupils, who escaped, earlier said the gunmen went from classroom to classroom, shooting children indiscriminately

  • The Taliban say the assault is in response to army operations in North Waziristan and the Khyber area. All times GMT

Live Reporting

Yaroslav Lukov, Alastair Lawson, Kerry Alexandra, Julia Macfarlane, Sally Taft and Jasmine Coleman

  1. The nurses of Peshawar

    A recent article by the Express Tribune drew attention to the nurses of Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where the injured from today's attacks are being treated. The nurses there frequently respond to bomb attacks and similar incidents due to the ongoing conflict against the Taliban.

    "When you stuff bodies in sacks and tear shroud regularly…Those things can drive you crazy" - Nasreen Qayyum, Head Nurse at LRH

  2. Home Department KPK, provincial government

    tweets: "Death toll reaches to more than 126 in the #PeshawarAttack. #PakArmy operation still underway. Firing again starts after lull of 30 minutes"

  3. Breaking News

    The death toll has now risen to 126 killed, and 122 have been injured in the Peshawar attack, officials say. Some 84 are believed to be children.

  4. Asad Khaweja, radio host

    tweets: It's time for a media blackout of TTP. No quotes, explanations, updates, nothing. They've made their statement. No more. Shut off the oxygen

  5. Breaking News

    Explosions heard at the Peshawar school attacked by Taliban militants.

  6. A student cries on a man"s shoulder, after he was rescued from the Army Public School that in under attack by Taliban gunmen in Peshawar, December 16, 2014Reuters

    A student weeps on a man's shoulder after he was rescued from the school.

  7. Shashank Joshi, Analyst

    tweets: Can't think of a bloodier attack in Pakistan in recent years. Death toll already bigger than last year's awful Peshawar church bombing.

  8. 'Hid under tables'

    Eyewitnesses have told reporters that the attack began when five or six armed men scaled the school walls and opened fire. One eyewitness said they tried to shut the classroom doors, but the gunmen broke them down:

    "We ducked under the tables and chairs, but they shot at our heads and legs. The kept firing and coming further inside the room, but we did not move because they shot at anyone who moved. We continued to hide under the tables and chairs."

  9. Pakistani paper the Express Tribune is reporting that the death toll has now risen to over 120. The paper adds that two fresh blasts have been heard from within the vicinity and firing is still going on.

  10. Ovais Jafar, journalist

    tweets: Three terrorists killed by security forces, one detonated his suicide vest... sources. #PeshawarAttack

  11. The Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh has condemned the attack in Peshawar, saying it has exposed the "real face of terrorism".

    He tweets: "I strongly condemn the terrorist attack on a school at Peshwar."

    And: "My heart goes out to the families of those children who got killed by the terrorists in Peshwar. I express my condolences to those families."

  12. PM Nawaz Sharif has reached Peshawar to oversee the operation against the gunmen, according to Dawn.

  13. The BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan says the Pakistani Taliban has never attacked a school building with children inside before. He says the scale of the assault may be an indication of the militants' frustration and anger at recent losses to the army.

  14. #PeshawarAttack is now the top trending hashtag on Twitter in Pakistan, and is also trending worldwide.

  15. Adam Roberts, The Economist's South Asia Bureau Chief

    tweets: Could this be end of Pakistan Taliban? Hard to imagine who, even among militant extremists, could stomach supporting it now. #PeshawarAttack

  16. A Pakistani woman weeps as she waits at a hospital, where victims of a Taliban attack are being treated in Peshawar, Pakistan,Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014AP

    A Pakistani woman weeps as she waits outside the hospital where the injured are being treated in Peshawar.

  17. Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

    tweets: Shocked at attack on school in Peshawar. Strongly condemn this inhuman act of utter barbarism.

  18. Children are still being held hostage by Taliban gunmen - according to a Pakistani official in the military reported by Reuters.

  19. BBC Monitoring

    Pakistanis are calling for blood donations on Twitter in efforts to save children and others injured. Users are retweeting telephone numbers of the hospitals in Peshawar and urging locals to go and donate blood.

    User Hamza writes: "Lady Reading & CMH need blood donations urgently contact 03139872057, 03009053727 #PeshawarAttack".

    Another user "Saba sheikh.D" wrote: "urgent ! O negative blood is needed at Lady Reading Hosp plz plz rush thr #PeshawarAttack"

  20. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the largest party in the KPK province, tweets that its chairman, Imran Khan, is heading to Peshawar immediately:

    "Chairman Imran Khan, Jehangir Tareen, Naeemul Haq leaving for Peshawar shortly #PeshawarAttack#KPKUpdates"