PAKISTAN-SCHOOL/INVESTIGATORS Pakistan investigators arrive at Peshawar school where 148 people were killed in a Taliban attack

Record ID: 858823

  • Title: PAKISTAN-SCHOOL/INVESTIGATORS Pakistan investigators arrive at Peshawar school where 148 people were killed in a Taliban attack
  • Date: 18th December 2014
  • Summary: BLOOD AND DEBRIS ON FLOOR
  • Embargoed: 2nd January 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8OJALCG2KN2LU3XG8PJYY2B1
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: ***PART QUALITY AS INCOMING***
    A joint investigation team, including forensic experts, on Thursday (December 18) visited Army Public School in Peshawar where 148 people, mostly students, were killed by Taliban insurgents.
    At least 132 students and nine staff members were killed on Tuesday (December 16) when Taliban gunmen broke into the Army Public School and opened fire, witnesses said, in the bloodiest massacre the country has seen for years.
    In all, 148 were killed in the attack on the military-run Army Public School, according to the army.
    The team, consisting of military and police officials, was led by Nasir Durrani, Inspector General of police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, of which Peshawar is capital.
    The investigators sifted through blood and rubble to collect evidence.
    "Our investigation team that has just arrived is trying to collect as much evidence as it can collect from the crime scene. We are trying to find out what happened and when we find the evidence, we will start working on that," said Nasir Durrani.
    "We are trying to find out their facilitators there. We are trying to find out their sleeper cell, wherever they are, in Peshawar or anywhere else. I am sure, the way we have started this crime scene investigation, we will, God willing, we will find out," Durrani added.
    The attack on the school by Taliban militants has heaped pressure on the government to do more to tackle an increasingly aggressive Taliban insurgency.
    The authorities, long accused of not being tough enough on extremists, quickly pointed the finger at Afghanistan, suggesting the neighbouring nation was not doing enough to catch Pakistani Taliban commanders hiding on its territory.
    In an apparent response to public opinion after what may have been the deadliest militant attack in Pakistani history, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced he had lifted a moratorium on the death penalty.
    Sharif has announced three days of mourning, but people's anxiety has focused on what the authorities can do to protect them.
    Pakistanis may be used to almost daily attacks on security forces but an outright assault on children stunned the country, prompting commentators to call for tough military action.
    The focus was on Army Chief Raheel Sharif as he visited Afghanistan, where the two sides - whose relationship is strained after decades of mistrust - discussed how to crack down on militants hiding on their common border.
    A Pakistani source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army chief had asked the Afghan side to help catch and hand over Pakistani Taliban Chief Mullah Fazlullah, who is hiding in the lawless mountains on the Afghan side of the frontier.
    There was no comment from the Afghan side but another Pakistani source said Kabul had responded positively to Pakistan's requests and praised new Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani's efforts to cooperate more on security.
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