At 12:00 pm Tuesday morning, a group of Taliban militants in Islamabad, Pakistan, attacked a school. This was a very violent attack, murdering at least 137 people, mostly children. Survivors say that they heard the Taliban militants going through the school chanting, “God is great.” The attack went on for a few hours. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Province Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani said that “most of the children were dead.” More than 100 were injured, many of these injuries were gunshot wounds. Mohammed Khurrassani, spokesman for Pakistan Taliban, said that six militants scaled the school’s walls with intent to kill older students there. Khurrassani said, “They had 300-400 people under their custody at one point.”

Pakistani troops pushed through the school complex. Around 4 pm, they had confined the attackers into four buildings. A few hours after that, Peshawar police chief, Mohammad Aijaz Khan, said that all of them were dead. Authorities are still inside the school looking for survivors. It seems to be simmering down, but the story still continues on many fronts. The military still continues with offensive strategies against the Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan and Peshawar hospitals where many of people are fighting for their lives.

General Asim Bajwa, military spokesman, called the attack a “ghastly act of cowardice in killing innocents.” In his view, “The Taliban are not only enemies of Pakistan, but enemies of humanity.”

On a regular day, the Army Public School and Degree College is home to 1,000 students, most of them being sons and daughters of army personnel around Peshawar. These children attend classes all throughout the multiple buildings in the complex. The Pakistani military said that some students and teachers evacuated the complex before being taken by the Taliban, though many couldn’t. The whole incident started when a car exploded behind the school. Security at the school went to see what it was. Students said that gunmen walked through the school after that. The building where students grades eight, nine, and ten was the first building they went to. “They began to fire randomly”, said Dr. Aamir Bilal of Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital. The situation has simmered down since then, but the schools are still preparing for attacks from the Taliban militants.