Survivors of the Taliban terrorist attack at the Army Public School and Degree College say militants shouted “God is great” as they swarmed through the facility, spraying bullets and rooting out as many children for massacre as they could find.
Ahmed Faraz, 14, said he was in the auditorium when five burst into the room and began firing, CNN reported.
“God is great,” Ahmed recounted the terrorists as shouting, explaining how one Taliban member then said: “’A lot of the children are under the benches. Kill them.’”
Another child victim, seventh-grader Mohammad Bilal, said he was taking a math test when he heard gunfire and fled to the bushes outside the school — and ultimately to freedom, CNN said.
Responding Pakistani military troops shortly after pushed through the school and cornered the terrorists to four rooms, CNN reported.
What they found — 145 bodies, 132 of whom were children, drenched in blood and piled on top of each other — made many emotional, CNN said.
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“Even the children are dying on the frontline in the war against terror,” said Khawaja Asif, the defense minister, in CNN. “The smaller the coffin, the heavier it is to carry.”
Military officials said all seven of the Taliban terrorists were killed by the end of the siege.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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