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                    Pakistan Mourns School Massacre Victims

   by VOA News

   Pakistan has begun three days of mourning following Tuesday's Taliban
   assault on a school in Peshawar that killed 141 people, nearly all of
   them students.

   Some families buried victims hours after the attack ended, while more
   funerals are taking place on Wednesday.

   The world condemned what the United Nations Security Council called a
   "depraved and savage" act of terror against children.

   U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the militants showed cowardice,
   and that "no cause can justify such brutality."

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed condolences in a phone
   call to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, saying the United States
   stands in solidarity and support of Pakistan in the fight against
   terror.

   The Pakistani Taliban said its fighters attacked the Army Public School
   and College in retaliation for the offensive against insurgents in the
   country's northwestern tribal region, near the Afghan border.

   Sharif vowed to continue the military's fight, saying Tuesday that
   Pakistan would avenge "every drop" of the children's blood.

   Authorities said the attack began when seven militants carrying
   ammunition and explosives used a ladder to scale a back wall at the
   school, which houses more than 1,000 students and staff.  When they
   reached a student assembly in a packed auditorium, they opened fire.

   From there, witnesses said the attackers went from classroom to
   classroom, methodically killing everyone they could reach.  The
   militants also wounded another 121 children and three staff members.

   Major General Asim Bajwa said all of the attackers were killed in
   hours-long gun battles with Pakistani troops who swarmed the facility.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistan-mourns-school-massacre-victims/2562242.html