Taliban gunmen have attacked on Tuesday morning an army-run school in the town of Peshawar, located in northwest Pakistan. During the siege that followed more than 120 people, mostly children, are believed to have lost their lives, foreign media report.

According to Al Jazeera, the attackers had been ordered to shoot older students first.

Following the attack, ambulances started ferrying wounded children to Lady Reading Hospital, which has so far received the lifeless bodies of five pupils, dozens of wounded children, as well as two teachers.
“Many are in the operation theatre now in critical condition, undergoing treatment,” hospital official Ejaz Khan told The Telegraph.

At least six armed men had entered the school on Tuesday morning, when approximately 500 students and teachers were inside. Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani told Reuters that his group was responsible for the attack.”Our suicide bombers have entered the school, they have instructions not to harm the children, but to target the army personnel. It’s a revenge attack for the army offensive in North Waziristan,” he said.