Taliban take hundreds hostage at Pakistani military school

[KevinNYC]

18 dead.

Holy shit.

Taliban gunmen took hundreds of students hostage at a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, and at least 18 people were killed, including 16 pupils, officials said.

A Reuters journalist at the scene heard heavy gunfire from inside the school as soldiers surrounded it. Helicopters hovered overhead and ambulances ferried wounded children to hospital.

The Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, a sprawling and volatile city not far from the Afghan border, said the hospital had received the bodies of at least 12 people and was treating 40 wounded students and two male teachers.

"Many are in the operation theater now in critical condition, undergoing treatment," said hospital official Ejaz Khan.

Provincial health minister Shahram Khan later told television that 18 people had died, including 16 students, a female teacher and a soldier.

[KevinNYC]

This is some Homeland shit right here.

[KevinNYC]

BBC says 24 Dead.

A Taliban spokesman says the assault is in response to army operations.

Hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to have died in a recent military offensive in North Waziristan and the nearby Khyber area.

[bdreason]

A country notorious for harboring terrorists has a terrorist problem. Who would've thunk it?

[KevinNYC]

Taliban still around?

Yup. Americans still dying in Afghanistan too. Two the other day, one was from NYC.

Troops still deploying there too. The "nation-building mission" is over, but the US is going to keep have 15,000 US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq next year.

I think maybe two, three years ago, you and I were talking about this and I said the Afghan war would continue even as we left.

[KevinNYC]

Ahmed Rashid who literally wrote the book on Pakistan



had this article from last week.
A reinvigorated anti-Taliban alliance?

After years of false starts, are we on the brink of a breakthrough in improving relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the Taliban and al-Qaeda on both sides of the border suffering an array of defeats and deaths?

For years the Pakistani military has been accused by the Afghans, the Americans and Nato of playing a double game - helping the Nato-US coalition in Afghanistan on the one hand, but at the same time allowing al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban to seek refuge and garner logistical support in Pakistan.....

But now those assumptions may be changing and the complex three-way relationship between the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan could be on the cusp of undergoing a dramatic improvement

For the first time in nearly 10 years the Pakistan army has killed a high-level leader of al-Qaeda. Adnan el Shukrijumah, a naturalised American citizen, was killed during a raid by Pakistani forces at a compound in the South Waziristan tribal agency close to the Afghan border on 6 December. He was accused of involvement in planning several failed attacks in the US and Britain nearly a decade ago and had been hiding in the tribal belt along the border ever since.

The following day, reports said a US drone had killed Umer Farooq, another top al-Qaeda leader in the North Waziristan tribal agency. A Pakistani national, he was allegedly al-Qaeda's operational commander in charge of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

So it seems that with the US leaving (for the most part) Pakistan didn't want these guys around and finally got serious about going after the Taliban and its allies and this attack is a response to that.

My guess would be Pakistan is about to start a much larger crackdown.

[KevinNYC]

At Least 104 Dead In Peshawar School Attack, Including 84 Children.

OMG.

Numbers keep climbing.

[fiddy]

At least 84 dead rip

[KyleKong]

At least 84 dead rip

84? What the [COLOR="Black"]f[/COLOR]uck.

Senseless.

[KyleKong]

Still over 400 hundred hostages with at least four more suicide bombers.

Holy f[COLOR="Black"]u[/COLOR]ck

[KevinNYC]

126 people have been killed and a further 122 injured.

Horrible.

Going back to bed.

[Eric Cartman]

Say what you want, the taliban is efficient.

[Dresta]

This sucks. Hopefully it results in a real brutal crackdown by the Pakistani military now.

I have to say as well, Twitter is getting really ****ing annoying. Go on BBC news and all it is is people on twitter 'condemning' the attack (well, duh). The thing has just become another PR tool to show how much you 'care' and stuff - every time there is an attack assistants to world political leaders must get on twitter asap to show how concerned they are - so pointless, and they all say pretty much the exact same thing as well.

[KingBeasley08]

holy shit.

[Im Still Ballin]

It's time to whoop these fuckers

Drop the nukes

Real talk