Taliban Attack on Pakistani School

[Dread Lady Nathicana]

More http://abcnews.go.com/International/dea ... 627742Than 100 Dead in Taliban School Attack in Pakistan, Chief Minister Says
Dec 16, 2014, 6:05 AM ET
By ABC NEWS via Good Morning America
Peshawar, Pakistan, Dec. 16, 2014.
Taliban Attack on Pakistani School

At least 126 people, most of them students, were killed in a Taliban attack on a military-run school in northwestern Pakistan, a Pakistani official said.

Pervez Khattak, the chief minister for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said numerous people were also injured in the attack. Terrified parents visited area hospitals, frantically searching for their children.

It wasn't clear how many students and staff were still inside the facility. About 1,000 students in grades 1 to 10 attend classes at the school.

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistan native who survived a 2012 shooting and won the Nobel Peace prize for her efforts to promote education, denounced the attack in a Facebook post on her Malala Fund nonprofit page.

"I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us," she wrote in the statement. "Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Apparently, the extremists have been forced back, and the situation is by now, back in control. At one point, it's said they had 300-400 people held hostage, and reports of at least 6 suicide bombers had scaled the facility. In the meantime, we have more casualties in the ongoing efforts of extremists.

My first reaction was just feeling sick for the victims and their families, and anger at the perpetrators. I don't have the answers on how to make this stop. There will always be those who want to force their will on others, unfortunately. And given the limitations many have, the unwillingness to stoop to the same heinous levels, it is difficult to eradicate.

What do you folks think? Are attacks like these valid? Do they really accomplish for these groups the things they want, aside from fear - the obvious outcome? Are there effective ways of fighting them, preventing these sorts of attacks from happening?

Unfortunately, according to sources, it was a military school. Does that excuse the fact they were children? Is it an acceptable fallout? Should they have expected it?

I don't know their capabilities, but I would think that given the levels these extremists are willing to stoop to, better protection is in order for those most vulnerable to mass attacks like this, where possible. There is no planning for random bombings in the street that I'm aware of. I certainly wouldn't be in favor of much mercy in dealing with anyone involved in this. I see this less as being a religious thing so much as a control and power thing. Most things are, with religion simply being the excuse some give to attempt and lend their position weight and legitimacy. I can't accept that the truly religious would condone, let alone carry out, the mass killings of underage kids, whatever the reason.

I do know that this sort of thing needs to stop. People shouldn't have to live in fear. And parents shouldn't have to be burying their kids like this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -live.html
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wir ... l-27626582
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/world/asi ... ol-attack/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/807564/gunm ... -peshawar/ Live updates link

[Degenerate Heart of HetRio]

I have little to comment but hope for the children who survived to recover from the trauma and life-threatening injuries, and for the families that now mourn their young to not suffer any more tragedy in their households.

I think terrorism might indeed be about believing in supernatural stuff, but not in the sense of an ethical guide but in one of a manner to egoistically "profit" upon others. What they desire with such accomplishments is hard to tell. I prefer to believe the ones to actually carry it out were brainwashed and just following orders from authority figures.

I have no idea of what they want.

[Chrysaor]

I'm a teacher so this is just beyond horrifying to me. It's just monstrous and cowardly how they specifically targeted children because they knew they could only fight those who couldn't fight back. I can't imagine what the traumas the surviving students must have endured.

Apparently they only focus on the older children and spared the younger ones though?

[The Seleucids (Ancient)]

Its just sad that such things happen and i fear we will see more of these happenings in the future... I cannot imagine what those attackers thought to achieve with this, nor what their leaders thought to achieve by it.

[Dread Lady Nathicana]

I'm a teacher so this is just beyond horrifying to me. It's just monstrous and cowardly how they specifically targeted children because they knew they could only fight those who couldn't fight back. I can't imagine what the traumas the surviving students must have endured.

Apparently they only focus on the older children and spared the younger ones though?

It's less a positive when you get down to the likely reasoning behind it. After a certain age, kids are less teachable. I've written it into an old RP of mine, actually, and the psychology that goes with it.

Young ones can be molded, are more easily imprinted with ideas and 'reprogramming'. I very much doubt the perceived 'mercy' in sparing younger ones had any real mercy behind it. I still haven't seen just how young the littlest there were, though 'elementary level' was mentioned in the radio broadcast on my local station this morning.

[Patistan]

I would like the OP to post this as a source as it's giving live updates.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/807564/gunm ... -peshawar/

Alot of my family lives in Peshawar and this is the first time i have felt so mortified, i can't even think of what the family's are thinking. May God be with them. Taliban on the other hand are vermin and disgusting ones, who i believe now have started whole new problems for them, cause if the death of more then 100 children can't unite a nation then i don't know what can

[Gauthier]

Right now listening to the Diane Rehm Show and it's talking about this. The guests are saying that the attack on the school was a revenge attack by the Pakistani Taliban for the Pakistani military conducting operations in the tribal areas to disrupt and hobble them. The targeting was due to limited logistical capabilities on the part of the Taliban because of said disruptions, i.e. it was a soft target and thus easiest for them to hit.

The school is apparently operated by the Pakistani military and many of the students were the children of senior military officials. It's a truly vile manifestation of blowback from the Pakistani military and intelligence apparatus supporting groups like the Haqqani Network, and hitting the military in such a visceral and personal way should hopefully have an effect of making said apparatus seriously rethink their support of such groups.

[Fortschritte]

Jesus, that's horrifying. My condolences and best wishes to all of those affected. I don't think words can describe my anger and sadness upon hearing about this.

[North Pacific Economic Commonwealth]

I have little to comment but hope for the children who survived to recover from the trauma and life-threatening injuries, and for the families that now mourn their young to not suffer any more tragedy in their households.

I think terrorism might indeed be about believing in supernatural stuff, but not in the sense of an ethical guide but in one of a manner to egoistically "profit" upon others. What they desire with such accomplishments is hard to tell. I prefer to believe the ones to actually carry it out were brainwashed and just following orders from authority figures.

I have no idea of what they want.

"Just following orders" is not a good way to justify what you did. This applies to anyone.
Hoping that they were "brainwashed" doesn't lessen at all how tragic and horrendous these crimes are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders

[The balkens]

Disgusting.

[Chrysaor]

I'm a teacher so this is just beyond horrifying to me. It's just monstrous and cowardly how they specifically targeted children because they knew they could only fight those who couldn't fight back. I can't imagine what the traumas the surviving students must have endured.

Apparently they only focus on the older children and spared the younger ones though?

It's less a positive when you get down to the likely reasoning behind it. After a certain age, kids are less teachable. I've written it into an old RP of mine, actually, and the psychology that goes with it.

Young ones can be molded, are more easily imprinted with ideas and 'reprogramming'. I very much doubt the perceived 'mercy' in sparing younger ones had any real mercy behind it. I still haven't seen just how young the littlest there were, though 'elementary level' was mentioned in the radio broadcast on my local station this morning.

Sad but you are probably right. I believe the youngest are only first graders while they mainly targeted the teens.

Now I heard that the attack is over and the total death toll is 131.

[Degenerate Heart of HetRio]

"Just following orders" is not a good way to justify what you did. This applies to anyone.
Hoping that they were "brainwashed" doesn't lessen at all how tragic and horrendous these crimes are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders

I wasn't defending the practice, just commenting why someone would directly practice that with their own hands without realizing how horrid it might be like any other person would.

[North Pacific Economic Commonwealth]

"Just following orders" is not a good way to justify what you did. This applies to anyone.
Hoping that they were "brainwashed" doesn't lessen at all how tragic and horrendous these crimes are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders

I wasn't defending the practice, just commenting why someone would directly practice that with their own hands without realizing how horrid it might be like any other person would.

I'd assume religious dogma or any other form of such, whether religious or non.

[The Conez Imperium]

When I first read this, it made me immediately sick in the stomach.

Over 100 children dead, children...

[Herskerstad]

Good God I hope the UN manages to remove the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, at the dead of night even, before the people calling for the talibanization of the government gets any hold.

Also, I've said it before, I will say it again. The US should never ever ever hold talks with the Taliban.

[Imyoji]

This is beyond horrible.

[Senkaku]

I heard about this on the news earlier and felt physically ill.

This would be a case where I'd be okay with it if the CIA pulled out every dirty trick in their torture methods books on these... people things who did this. This is an incomprehensibly horrific crime, and I can't imagine what the families of all those dead children must be going through.

[Arlye Austros]

Sickening... I heard on CNN this might be motivated, among others, in a race between the Taliban and the Daesh (Islamic State) for the control as the most prominent terrorist/islamist terror cell in the globe. If so, I feel +/- 150 people, children between them, have just been used as means to show off, which ads my disgust to these guys.

As for what should be done, it is complicated. The past has shown us that western involvement tends to feed these groups, so no doubt the deffinite solution must come or be executed by the countries in the region, but certainly must be an alliance of the involve States. Western aid must be discussed and analyzed, because we cannot risk 30 more years of these guys justifying their crimes of western involvement.

Also, I am surprised (not actually, but catched my eye nevertheless) the ammount of people saying Islam is causing this (on Twitter and Facebook). From my PoV Islam is more easily interpreted towards violence than Christianity or Judaism, but I am no expert and I would like an insight by one. However, I have heard the Islamic Clerics and Scholars (those not being the founders of ISIS and such), head elements of the Islam, have already condemned IS/ISIS and Taliban. My question is: As groups that objectively damage Islam, shouldnt they declare a Jihad on ISIS/IS and Taliban and Boko Haram, requesting the Islamic-majority States to coordinate actions, beyond Chiia/Suuni barriers, against the islamist groups (islamic extremism), making the coordination and cooperation between the many armed forces possible and placing barriers between the war and the civilian population wherever possible?

[North Pacific Economic Commonwealth]

While it seems to be an unpopular.. Thing to say, I guess, but the perpetrators of this terrible crime are not things.
They are human. We should remind ourselves this because humans can do amazing things, and absolutely toxic and evil shit.

[Arlye Austros]

While it seems to be an unpopular.. Thing to say, I guess, but the perpetrators of this terrible crime are not things.
They are human. We should remind ourselves this because humans can do amazing things, and absolutely toxic and evil shit.

Exactly, they are humans, and that allows them to act with their will fully intact. Those behind, thus, can be made accauntable and placed under trial, found guilty (or, who knows, innocent, rather unlikely) and condemned to a fair punishment. We (all those against these acts) must never fall below the line of recognizing them as people.

[North Pacific Economic Commonwealth]

While it seems to be an unpopular.. Thing to say, I guess, but the perpetrators of this terrible crime are not things.
They are human. We should remind ourselves this because humans can do amazing things, and absolutely toxic and evil shit.

Exactly, they are humans, and that allows them to act with their will fully intact. Those behind, thus, can be made accauntable and placed under trial, found guilty (or, who knows, innocent, rather unlikely) and condemned to a fair punishment. We (all those against these acts) must never fall below the line of recognizing them as people.

You put it in better words than I.

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

Its awful. The Taliban are depraved animals worse than cockroaches.

My sympathies are with the families and the most importantly- the children.

[MERIZoC]

Read about this on AJ. Very terrible. I don't believe the fact that it was a military school excuses anything. These are children, not combatants.

[Rhursbourg]

I am not sure there are words to describe such actions well certainly not ones that can said in polite society

[Marcurix]

Such a horrifying act will not go unanswered by the military, and it has certainly given them an enforced mandate and motivation to hunt down such groups in the future.