In the hours following their attack on a school in Peshawar on December 16, Pakistani terrorist group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) issued a claim of responsibility and cited reprisal for the Pakistani military efforts to root out and destroy the group this past summer. Under the orders of Maulawi (Mullah) Fazlullah, gunmen disguised in Pakistani military uniforms traveled from room to room, identifying the children of Pakistani military personnel and slaughtering them in cold blood.

The final count was an astounding 145 people killed. A teacher that stood up valiantly, refusing to relinquish the location of specific children, was killed in horrific fashion—doused in gasoline, set alight, and burned alive in front of her young students. Some of the students attested to her heroism, stating that she quite simply saved lives by standing up to the attackers.

At least six militants entered the Pakistani school wearing security uniforms before massacring an estimated 132 people and injuring another. —(Lianna Brinded, International Business Times, December 16)

This past summer here at SOFREP and at Foreign Intrigue, I noted the ongoing offensive in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan and the effectiveness of the mission on the capacity of groups such as TTP to carry out attacks on Pakistani civilians and infrastructure. You can find those articles here: