Pragya Sharma

Correspondent – Delhi Bureau

[email protected]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan , December 16 —

Taliban gunmen have attacked an army-run school in north-west Pakistan.

A Pakistani official says the death toll in a Taliban attack on a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar has risen to 126.

The information minister for the province, Mushtaq Ghani, says most of the dead in Tuesday’s attack were students, children and teenagers, from the school.

The still-unfolding violence began in the morning hours, with about half a dozen gunmen entering the school. Two loud booms of unknown origin were heard coming from the scene in the happy wheels demo early afternoon, as Pakistani troops exchanged fire with the attackers.

The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, the country’s worst in more than a year.

PM Nawaz Sharif has told reporters in Peshawar that attacks of this kind are to be expected in the wake of Pakistan’s military operations against the Taliban, according to a source

“I feel that until and unless this country is cleansed from terrorism, this war and effort will not stop, no one should be doubtful of this,” he said.

“Such attacks are expected in the wake of a war and the country should not lose its strength.”