US tax dollars massacred Pakistani children

Posted by Kevin Barrett on December 19, 2014

By Kevin Barrett, Veterans Today Editor, with Syed Zaid Hamid

Most Americans are decent people. Naturally they are horrified by the massacre of over 100 children at a school in Peshawar.

They would be even more horrified if they knew their tax dollars had paid for it.
That’s right – it wasn’t America’s enemies that killed those children. It was US.

The so-called “Pakistani Taliban” is NOT the Afghan Taliban. The “Pakistani Taliban” is a false-flag group created and run by the American Deep State and its allies India and Israel.

Jim Fetzer and I briefly covered this story on False Flag Weekly News.
But there is a lot more to say.
The US empire – sorry, I should call it the Bankster Empire – created the Pakistani Taliban to destabilize Pakistan. The ultimate aim is to take down Pakistan’s nuclear capability. Secondary goal: demonize Islam in general and the Empire’s Afghan enemies in particular.
Israel and India eagerly joined the project. Both have their own reasons for wanting to destabilize, dismember and destroy nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Today it is the Indian intelligence service, RAW – unleashed by the genocidal Islamophobe Narendra Modi – that has the most hands-on control of the so-called Pakistani Taliban. But the US Deep State, with its deep pockets from narcotics trafficking, is still in the picture.
The founding fathers of the Pakistani Taliban are people like CIA operative Raymond Davis, who got caught red-handed setting up terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.
Syed Zaid Hamid, the brilliant Pakistani defense analyst, has exposed the CIA-RAW-Mossad “Pakistani Taliban.”



Zaid Hamid explains:

Just as CIA has created Free Syrian Army and Now Daish/ISIS, they had created TTP (“Pakistani Taliban”) in 2004, after recruiting Abdullah Mehsud in Guantanamo. Primarily, TTP was a CIA Black Ops. But due to its heavily religious content, Darul Uloom Deoband India /RAW joined in as ideological patrons. Slowly, CIA withdrew to Drone warfare only, using TTP assets as spies against Afghan Taliban/Haqqani BUT RAW took over anti-Pak ops of TTP.
Right now, TTP are based & protected in Afgh. CIA/JSOC uses them as spies. RAW uses them as ruthless war machine against Pakistan. So to fully eliminate TTP, we will have to eject CIA/JSOC from Afghanistan & also eliminate all Indian assets to isolate/destroy TTP fully.

Got that, Mr. and Mrs. America? YOU killed those kids in Peshawar.
The real war on terrorism is the war on false flag terrorism. The real terrorists are the Empire’s hired and brainwashed professional killers.
And their funders.
That would be you.

• About Author
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Kevin Barrett

Dr. Kevin Barrett, a Ph.D. Arabist-Islamologist, is one of America’s best-known critics of the War on Terror.

Dr. Barrett has appeared many times on Fox, CNN, PBS and other broadcast outlets, and has inspired feature stories and op-eds in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune, and other leading publications.

Dr. Barrett has taught at colleges and universities in San Francisco, Paris, and Wisconsin, where he ran for Congress in 2008. He currently works as a nonprofit organizer, author, and talk radio host.

 

 Pakistan's revenge: Jets and ground forces kill 77 Taliban militants following school massacre which claimed the lives of 132 children 

• 148 people, mostly children, killed when Taliban fighters stormed school  
• The military said its ground forces killed 10 militants late on Thursday
• 17 more, including an Uzbek leader, were killed in strikes on Khyber area
• Another 32 alleged terrorists killed by security forces in ambush in Khyber
• Pakistan to try to cancel bail for main suspect in 2008 Mumbai attacks 

By Associated Press

Published: 07:37, 19 December 2014 | Updated: 18:16, 19 December 2014

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Pakistani jets and ground forces killed 77 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said on Friday, days after Taliban fighters killed 148 people — most of them children — in a school massacre.

The military said its ground forces killed 10 militants while airstrikes killed another 17, including an Uzbek commander late on Thursday night.

Another 32 alleged terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in Tirah valley in Khyber on Friday as they headed toward the Afghan border, the military said.

On Friday morning, troops killed 18 more militants during a 'cordon and search operation' in Khyber, the military said. 

Scroll down for video 

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Retaliation: The Pakistani military killed 67 Taliban militants in air strikes and ground assaulkts in response to the school massacre atrocity

The military said the army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, was traveling to Khyber Friday to meet with troops taking part in the ground operation. 

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Meanwhile, a Pakistani prosecutor said the government will try to cancel the bail granted to the main suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks — a decision that outraged neighbouring India and called into question Pakistan's commitment to fighting militancy.

The violence at a school in Pakistan's northwest earlier this week stunned the country and brought cries for retribution. In the wake of the mass killing the military has struck targets in the Khyber tribal region and approved the death penalty for six convicted terrorists. 

Pakistan Rangers kill militants including Taliban commander

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Macabre: Pakistani Frontier Corps personnel look at bodies of militants who were killed in a military operation in Tirah, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border

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Pakistani security forces killed at least 67 suspected militants as operations against insurgents intensify in the wake of a Taliban school massacre that killed 149 people

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On Friday morning, troops killed 18 more militants during a 'cordon and search operation' in Khyber, the military said.

Khyber agency is one of two main areas in the northwest where the military has been trying to root out militants in recent months. Khyber borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and militants have traditionally attacked the city before fleeing into the tribal region where police can't chase them.

The other area is North Waziristan, where the military launched a massive operation in June.

In the southern province of Baluchistan, Pakistani security forces killed a senior Pakistani Taliban leader along with seven of his associates in three separate pre-dawn raids, said a tribal police officer, Ali Ahmed.

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A Pakistani army soldier stands guard outside the Army Public School in Peshawar. Pakistani forces have intensified their offensive against Islamist militants

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Special forces: The military said its ground forces late Thursday killed 10 militants in the Khyber region of Pakistan while another 32 alleged terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in Tirah valley as they headed toward the Afghan border

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Airstrikes: Pakistani jets killed another 17 militants, including an Uzbek commander, in strikes on the Khyber region of the country (stock image of Pakistan Air Force F-16 war planes during a training mission)

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Retribution: The violence at a school (pictured) in Pakistan's northwest earlier this week stunned the country and brought cries for retribution

Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif signed death warrants of six 'hard core terrorists' convicted and sentenced to death by military courts, the army said.

It was unclear when the military planned to hang the six men, but authorities generally move quickly once death warrants are signed. Such executions are usually carried out at prisons under the supervision of army officers and then the bodies are handed over to relatives for burial.

There was no information on the men or the crimes for which they were convicted.

The news came after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday announced that he would lift a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases. The government has not yet carried out any executions.

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Evil: Taliban fighters who allegedly stormed an army-run school in Peshawar pose for a picture before carrying out the atrocity. The death warrants of six 'hard core terrorists' convicted and sentenced to death by military courts were also signed

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Controversy: Meanwhile, a Pakistani prosecutor said the government will try to cancel the bail granted to Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi (centre), the main suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks

The lifting of the moratorium was aimed at demonstrating the government's resolve. But the decision by an anti-terrorism court Thursday to grant bail to the main suspect in the Mumbai attack, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, called into question that commitment.

Lakhvi is one of seven people on trial in Pakistan for the assault, but the trial has produced no results so far. It has been closed to the media.

India reacted with outrage to news of Lakhvi's pending release.

Special public prosecutor Abu Zar Peerzada said he would appeal to the High Court to cancel the bail and said Lakhvi had not yet been released. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2880128/Pakistani-jets-ground-forces-kill-27-militants-northwest.html#ixzz3MNpeYe2H
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

'My heroine mother was shot in the head shepherding her children to safety': Son of Peshawar headmistress 'torched alive in front of pupils' reveals how she really died 

• Tahira Qazi was shot in head by militants while rescuing pupils, son says
• Ahmad Qazi, 23, said headmistress was walking children out of the school
• Posted message on Facebook 'clarifying' details on his mother's death
• Earlier reports suggested she hid in locked toilet while Taliban killed pupils
• Others confused her with Hifsa Khush - a fellow teacher who was burnt to death in front of her traumatised pupils

By Tom Wyke And Aamir Iqbal For Mailonline

Published: 09:24, 19 December 2014 | Updated: 16:32, 19 December 2014

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The heartbroken son of the headmistress murdered in the Peshawar school massacre has said she died 'saving the children' - not being burned alive or blown up while hiding in in a locked toilet.

One of the most horrific stories from the Peshawar school massacre was the death of headmistress Tahira Qazi - who was slaughtered alongside nine colleagues and 132 innocent children by the Taliban.

Early reports claimed that Mrs Qazi was specifically targeted by the six militants because she was married to a retired colonel in the Pakistani army, and that she had fled her classroom and locked herself in a toilet when she heard their gunshots.

Others confused her with a second female teacher, Hifsa Khush, who was burnt to death in front of her traumatised pupils.

But now her son Ahmad, 23, has taken to social media to clarify the reports - saying his mother was shot in the head by one of the six depraved killed as she was shepherding children out of the besieged building so they could escape certain death.

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Proud mother: Tahira Qazi, the principal of the Army Public School and College in Peshawar, with her son, Ahmad, at his graduation ceremony in Peshawar.

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It is believed Mrs Qazi (right) was targeted because she was married to a retired army colonel, Kazi Javaid

Clarify: Ahmad Qazi, 23, has taken to say that his mother was shot in the head by one of the six depraved killed as she was shepherding children out of the besieged building so they could escape certain death

The remains of Mrs Qazi's body are believed to have been found beneath a pile of rubble after the ceiling and walls of her classroom collapsed.

Confusion over exactly how she died led to rumours surfacing that he had been hiding from the militants in a locked toilet when they blew the room to pieces using a grenade.

Others muddled her story up with that of fellow teacher Hifsa Khush, who was horrifically burnt to death in front of her traumatised pupils.

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But a post on Ahmad Qazi's Facebook page clarified details of her death, saying that burn marks on her body were inflicted after she died.

These, he said, were caused by an 'additional blast' rather than a hand grenade and that 'she was pretty much recognisable.' 

The statement ends with a plea from Qazi for the stories to be corrected, urging people to share his Facebook status so that 'the right information be taken to the people.' 

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His final duty: Ahmed Qazi sprinkles rose water on the floral wreaths of his mother's fresh grave

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 Grieving: Ahmed Qazi (second left) leads the mourners at the funeral of his mother

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Mourning: Mrs Kazi's body is carried by relatives at her funeral today in Peshawar

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Laid to rest: The headmistress's body is careful laid to rest before prayers are offered in her memory

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Family:  Ahmed (left) pleaded in his statement for people to pray for all victims and familes involved in the Peshawar massacre.  Mrs Kazi's elder brother Kazi Karimullah (right) said that she was a passionate, dedicated and committed person

Clarification of Mrs Qazi's death came as the Taliban issued another statement on the attack, claiming their aim had been to target the sons of a Pakistani military officer. 

Mohammad Khorasani, the spokesman for Pakistan Taliban, claimed in a statement issued to media: '[The] attack on the school in Peshawar was revenge for the killing of its fighters and their families during on going military operation in North Waziristan.'

One of the commanders of Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan TTP also claimed in a video message: 'If our women and children died as martyrs your children will not escape.'

Pointing towards the Pakistani military's ongoing operation in North Waziristan, Khalifa Omar Mansoor - a Taliban commander believed by security forces to have masterminded the attack, warned:' This is obvious if you will attack us we will certainly go for a revenge for our families.'

Earlier this week, pictures of a blood splattered doorway leading to an auditorium and the scene of the final gun battle emerged. In a grim tour of the building photographers were shown inside the auditorium. 

The floor is caked in blood in places and dozens of chairs lie in disarray, knocked over by children running for cover as the terrorists hosed them with bullets.

The lucky ones, it transpired, survived by playing dead under these chairs as the gunmen stalked the room, searching for children they'd missed.

As people around the world united to condemn the attack, the Taliban gloatingly published pictures of the fighters responsible for the slaughter. 

A series of chilling images shows them lined up with assault rifles and rocket launchers. 

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Devastation: Mrs Kazi's office, where a terrorist blew himself up during a nine-hour rampage 

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Harrowing: A blood-splattered doorway leading to an auditorium at the school in Peshawar, with spectacles on the floor belonging to one of the victims of the massacre

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Shocking: The scene of the final gun battle between the jihadists and Pakistani soldiers

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The fanatics used suicide vests and grenades in the attack, which left debris strewn across the floors

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Bullet holes have punctured the plaster of a wall in a classroom, where children died in a hail of gunfire 

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Pools of dried blood is splattered across the floor, amid broken and knocked-over chairs 

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Nightmare scene: The pictures of the school's interior emerged as Pakistan began three days of mourning

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A lone shoe belonging to a young girl is left behind at the scene of the massacre at the military-run school

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Books and note paper litter the floor of the school, dropped as children ran for their lives 

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A soldier surveys the damage in the school, as books and paper lie among debris in one of the corridors 

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A Pakistani soldier shows the media a burnt-out classroom during a tour of the damaged building

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A blood-soaked book lies abandoned and trodden on the floor of the school following Tuesday's attack

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Shoes lie among blood on the auditorium floor, where pupils were having a First Aid lecture before the massacre unfolded

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One journalist being shown around the Army Public School finds the devastation before him hard to take

The massacre led to calls for the death penalty to be restored. 'It was decided that this moratorium should be lifted. The prime minister approved,' said government spokesman Mohiuddin Wan, referring to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's approval of the decision by a ministerial committee. 

A moratorium on the death penalty was imposed in 2008 and only one execution has taken place since then. 

The government declared a three-day mourning period, starting on Wednesday. The authorities also warned schools to be vigilant, as intelligence has been received by police suggesting terrorists are planning to attach magnetic bombs to school buses, according to Sky News.

Some of the funerals were held overnight, but most of the 132 children and 10 school staff members killed in the attack were to be buried Wednesday. Another 121 students and three staff members were wounded.

Some of the critically wounded adults - members of the school staff - died overnight, and authorities raised the overall death toll to 148. 

Hundreds of people attended the funeral prayer for Mrs Qazi, held in a field of wheat crops. 

Her son Ahmad, 23, said that he was proud of his mother.  

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As people around the world united to condemn the attack, the Taliban gloatingly published pictures of the men responsible for the slaughter

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Sick: These are the men who turned their assault weapons on innocent children and teachers

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Between them these seven gunmen slaughter over 140 people, most of them children

'She was more committed to the students of the school than her family,' he said.

Ahmad said that he last met her on Tuesday morning, for breakfast, the day she was killed and burnt alive.

He told MailOnline: 'Her vehicle came late that day, so we talked about different things. She was so happy for her students. She told me that she would have a busy day ahead. She left home for school around 8:45 am.'

At around 10:45 he heard about the attack and tried to call her.

He continued: 'I started trying her cell number but for an hour it remained busy. I tried dozens of the time but couldn't reach her and after an hour her cell turned off. Later her personal assistant (PA) told me that she was busy talking to parents of the students. Her PA told us that she had the opportunity to leave the school.'

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Ehsan Elahi, 13, has revealed the horror he witnessed in the auditorium

Her elder brother Kazi Karimullah, 67, who is a banker by profession, said that she was a passionate, dedicated and committed person. 

He said: 'We were more friends than siblings. She was very sweet person. She was very close to me. We used to meet almost everyday. This is true that she used to give school more time than her home.

'She had that smiling face. But I could not see her face for more than a second after she was killed. It was so horrible. It was burnt and I could not even imagine my sister in that shape. I could not dare see her body more than once.'

Mother of three Tahira Kazi was very popular among her students, too.

'She was not an angry principal but a very disciplined one,' said 18-year-old grade 12 APS student Muhammad Tajdar. 'I have never saw her hitting a student or in an angry mood. She came to our class last time on Thursday last week and asked us to focus on our studies.' 

Tajdar was there when terrorists attacked the school. 

He said: 'I was on second floor of building with my class fellow when I heard firing. I saw three young men clad in black uniform jumping the back wall of the school. They were carrying guns and hand grenades. They started firing the bullets straight to the students. We quickly got into a classroom, locked the door and put chairs and benches in front of the door. 

'There were at least 25 students in that classroom. We heard the cries of the students and teachers but we stayed silent. We were shivering with fear.'

Another shocking account of the massacre came from 13-year-old survivor Ehsan Elahi, an eighth grade student who was busy with his classmates learning first aid training from army instructors at the main hall of the school when he heard the sound of gunfire nearby.

He told MailOnline: 'Our teachers and instructors asked us to calm down but the sound of the bullets started came closer and closer. In the next minute, the glass of windows and doors of the hall smashed with bullets. Some people started kicking the hall doors.'

He said that situation created panic among the 100 students in the hall. 

He said: 'Everybody was trying to find a place to hide but there was not such places in the hall. The students were crying and weeping. There were only chairs and benches to hide behind in the hall. I jumped behind a bench and laid on the ground.' He said the attackers burst in and started 'spraying bullets like hell'.

Inside the military-run school where 148 people were killed

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The school has been left wrecked and desolate by the horrific gun and grenade rampage 

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Huge bullet holes are seen across the wall of a classroom in the school in Peshawar. It took nine hours of fighting to kill the fanatics

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The markings reflected the horror that went on inside the school's walls during Tuesday's massacre

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Gruesome: Some of the walls in the school are caked in blood - a chilling legacy of the massacre 

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Blood traces are seen in the debris of a part of the conference hall inside the army-run school

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The attack, which started around 10am yesterday, left 148 dead - 132 of them children

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Chairs were turned over, as bullet holes adorned the walls in one of the rooms at the school 

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The bullet holes had shattered the plaster around most of the school, reflecting the sheer horror which happened during the attack

Elahi continued: 'I saw army instructors falling on the ground first. I saw many of my friends getting bullets on their heads, chests, arms and legs right in front of me. Their body parts and blood were flying like small pieces of cotton in the class room. 

'Warm blood and flesh of my friends fell on my face and other parts of my body. It was horrible. They kept on firing bullets for at least 10 minutes and then stopped. It was a pause of a maximum of a minute. Next moment, they started spraying bullets again towards those who were crying with pain or moving. I also received two bullets on my right arm. I wanted to cry with my full voice but I held my pain and did not cry because it meant death.'

Elahi explained how his life was eventually saved by Pakistani soldiers.

He said: 'They were not ready to leave alive even a single person present in the hall. After around 15 minutes, we heard some bullets shots from outside. I think army soldiers reached the school by that time and they fired those bullets. This diverted the attention of the attackers. They ran out from the hall. But, I did not move or cried for next 10 minutes unless army men came to rescue us. 

'The hall has turned to pool of blood and death. Human blood, flesh and body parts were scattered everywhere. I saw lifeless faces of many of my friends when I was leaving the hall. Their faces are still in front of my eyes.'   

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Images of the aftermath of the attack reveal something of its horror, with some parts of the school completely ruined 

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Children ran for their lives during the attack, leaving overturned desks behind them 

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Tragic scene: Pakistani journalists film and photograph inside an auditorium of the Army Public School

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Chairs are upturned and blood stains the floor at the Army Public School auditorium

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Survivor Ehsan Elahi told how gunmen burst into the auditorium and fired at children for a full 10 minutes 

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Army commandos fought the Taliban in a day-long battle until the school was cleared and the attackers dead 

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A local reporter walks past a damaged wall of the Army Public School, riddled with bullet holes

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Bleak: Pakistani soldiers walk amidst the debris as a journalist takes pictures behind them

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Barbaric act: The terrorists left the school walls scarred with bullet holes as they went on their rampage

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Depraved: The terrorists doused some of the female teachers in petrol and set them alight in front of their pupils

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Prayer vigils were held across the nation and in other schools today, as Pakistan mourned the dead

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Blood traces are seen in the debris of the conference hall inside the army-run school that was attacked by Taliban on Tuesday

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The school was in a state of devastation with smashed glass and broken fittings following Tuesday's attack

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Officials were today attempting to clean up the aftermath of the horrific attack

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A view of the debris inside one of the classrooms inside the school. More horrifying accounts have emerged about what happened during the attack

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Bullet holes and blood traces covered the notice board on one of the walls inside a classroom

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Pakistani soldiers walk among the debris at the school, as they attempt to clear up the aftermath of the attack

More horrifying accounts have emerged of another female teacher being burned alive as she courageously stood in the path of the terrorists and told her children to run for their lives.

Afsha Ahmed, 24, confronted the marauding gunmen when they burst into her classroom and told them: 'You can only kill my students over my dead body.'

The militants doused her with petrol and set her alight, but she still mustered the strength to beckon her pupils to flee.

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Hifsa Khush is thought to have been burned alive in front of her pupils after being doused in petrol.

One of her students, 15-year-old Irfan Ullah, wept as he recalled her incredible bravery.

He said: 'She was a hero, so brave.

'She jumped up and stood between us and the terrorists before they could target us.

'She warned them: 'You can only kill them over my dead body'. I remember her last words - she said: 'I won't see my students lying in blood on the floor'.'

Irfan, who suffered serious injuries to his chest and stomach in the chaos, said he hoped Mrs Ahmed would forgive him for not trying to protect her and for any mistakes he ever made in class.

'I felt so selfish as we ran away to safe our lives instead of trying to save our teacher who sacrificed her life for our better tomorrow,' he added.

Another teacher, Hifsa Khush, is also thought to have been burned alive in front of her pupils after being doused in petrol. 

Prayer vigils were held across the nation and in other schools, students spoke of their shock at the carnage in Peshawar, where seven Taliban gunmen, explosives strapped to their bodies, scaled a back wall using a ladder to get into the military-run establishment in the morning hours on Tuesday.

REVEALED: THE BLOODTHIRSTY TALIBAN LEADER DUBBED 'RADIO MULLAH' BEHIND PAKISTANI SCHOOL MASSACRE - WHO ALSO ORDERED MALALA HIT

The bloody slaughter of 132 children at a school in Pakistan yesterday was ordered by Maulana Fazlullah - the head of the country's Taliban terror group and a man whose previous crimes include ordering the murder of teenage education campaigner Malala Yousafzai.

The firebrand militant, whose thick black beard reaches halfway down his chest, took control of the Pakistani Taliban 13 months ago, and it is thought yesterday's massacre may have been his barbaric revenge for Malala, 17, being award the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.

Whatever his twisted motive, Fazlullah has succeeded in uniting the world in revulsion once again.

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Terror leader: Maulana Fazlullah - the firebrand militant, whose thick black beard reaches halfway down his chest - took control of the Pakistani Taliban 13 months ago

Born Fazal Hayat in 1974 in the Swat Valley, Fazlullah is a member of the Yousafzai tribe - the same group of ethnic Pashtuns from which Malala takes her surname.

Aged 18 he became the leader of the local terror group Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi after its leadership was decimated by arrests following the September 11 attacks in New York.

In the hope of cementing his legitimacy as leader, Fazlullah married the daughter of Sufi Muhammad, who founded Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi in 2002. Rumours that his henchmen kidnapped the bride and forced her to marry him have dogged Fazlullah ever since.

While in jail, Muhammad ordered Fazlullah to adopt his new name and sent him reams of radical Islamic literature designed to assist and guide his son in law.

By the time Muhammad was released from prison in 2008, Fazlullah's leadership was secure enough for its founder not to resume control. 

Later that year Fazlullah allied Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi with the Pakistani Taliban, and he started taking direct orders from Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud.

This relationship would allow Fazlullah to become increasingly close to senior figures in the terror group.

While taking orders from the Pakistani Taliban, Fazlullah controlled more than 4,000 fighters - helping him to effectively run a parallel government in the Swat Valley and impose strict Sharia law across 57 villages.

It was while governing the Swat Valley that Fazlullah began using FM radio stations to broadcast his firebrand sermons in the area, earning him the nickname Radio Mullah.

His rantings about 'sins' such as television, music, and computers were deemed compulsory listening among the villagers as the Taliban imposed a rigorous version of Islamic law, publicly beheading and flogging wrongdoers and burning schools.  

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Rise to power: Maulana Fazlullah was elected as head of the Pakistani Taliban after the death in a U.S. drone strike of long-term leader Hakimullah Mehsud (pictured centre in brown hat)

 In 2012 Fazlullah ordered the death of Malala Yousafzai - the teenage education campaigner who almost died when a masked gunman in Swat Valley jumped into a vehicle taking girls home from school and shouted 'Who is Malala?' before shooting her in the head.

Last November Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a U.S. drone strike, leading to the Taliban's supreme council electing Fazlullah as its new head.

Since then, the militant has specialised in the kind attention grabbing savagery that deflects attention away from the Taliban's declining influence in Swat Valley, which has been eroded by bitter feuds with local clans - including the traditionally dominant Mehsud tribe.

Fazlullah has also found his power reined in by the Pakistani military's fresh push into the Taliban's former North Waziristan stronghold.

In September Fazlullah also declared the Taliban's support for the Islamic State and vowed to send fighters to assist the terror group as it was wages bloody war in Syria and Iraq. 

Yesterday's brutal massacre of schoolchildren is widely seen as an attempt by Fazlullah to prove to his rivals that the Taliban is still a relevant force.  

The strategy may not be particularly well thought out, however, as it is only likely to add to the tribal divisions that have drastically weakened the group over the past year.

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A school noticeboard stands amid debris and pock-marked walls

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Haunting: A broken window of a classroom at the Army Public School

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A Pakistani Army soldier stands guard at an office of the Army Public School

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Officers stood guard outside the conference hall at the army-run school 

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Even Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan decried the killing spree, calling it 'un-Islamic' 

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Tragic: Dawood Ibrahim is the only member of class 9 left. He didn't go to school on the morning of the attack because his alarm didn't go off

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Indian Muslim children pray at a madrasa, or religious school, for Tuesday's Taliban attack victims in Ahmadabad

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People attend the funeral of a student killed in Tuesday's Taliban attack in Peshawar

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Pakistani mourners carry the coffin of a teacher killed in the masscre during his funeral

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Mourners and relatives of Pakistani teacher Saeed Khan, a victim of a Taliban attack in a school, pray around his body in Peshawar

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Taking no chances: The school is now guarded by heavily armed military personnel

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A Pakistani frontier corp guard stands outside the main entrance of the army-run school

Family bury a student killed in the Pakistan school siege

The attack was the deadliest slaughter of innocents in the country and horrified a nation already weary of unending terrorist assaults. 

Army commandos fought the Taliban in a day-long battle until the school was cleared and the attackers dead. 

'They finished in minutes what I had lived my whole life for, my son,' said laborer Akhtar Hussain, tears streaming down his face as he buried his 14-year-old, Fahad. He said he had worked for years in Dubai to earn a livelihood for his children.

'That innocent one is now gone in the grave, and I can't wait to join him, I can't live anymore,' he wailed, banging his fists against his head.

'The attackers came around 10:30 a.m. on a pick-up van,' said Issam Uddin, a 25-year-old school bus driver.

'They drove it around the back of the school and set it on fire to block the way. Then they went to Gate 1 and killed a soldier, a gatekeeper and a gardener. Firing began and the first suicide attack took place.'

The Taliban said the attack was revenge for a military offensive against their safe havens in the northwest, along the border with Afghanistan, which began in June. Analysts said the school siege showed that even diminished, the militant group still could inflict horrific carnage.

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Pakistani health workers treat a student at a hospital a day after the atrocity

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Over a hundred students were wounded in the rampage by Taliban gunmen 

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Pakistani villagers stand around the grave for the Army Public School's principal, Mrs Kazi

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People light candles to pay tribute to students of the Army Public School

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Poignant: A group photograph of Army Public School students

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Pakistani women in Peshawar hold flowers to pay tribute to Army Public School students

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Candles are lit in Karachi for victims of the attack as the country tries to come to terms with what happened

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A member of a civil society group in Peshawar holds an anti-Taliban placard to condemn the attack

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Protesters in Islamabad display their anger at the Taliban for the attack on the children

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Heartbreaking: Photographs of some of the students massacred by Taliban gunmen

The attack drew swift condemnation from around the world. President Barack Obama said the 'terrorists have once again showed their depravity.'

Pakistan's teenage Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai - herself a survivor of a Taliban shooting - said she was 'heartbroken' by the bloodshed.

Even Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan decried the killing spree, calling it 'un-Islamic.'

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to step up the campaign that - along with U.S. drone strikes - has targeted the militants.

'We will take account of each and every drop of our children's blood,' said Sharif, who rushed to Peshawar shortly after the attack to offer support for the victims.

At a top-level meeting in Peshawar he said: 'We must not forget these scenes. The way they left bullet holes in the bodies of innocent kids, the way they tore apart their faces with bullets.'

Sharif said he spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani late Tuesday to discuss how both countries could do more to fight terrorism. The two agreed to launch fresh operations on their respective sides of the border, he said, and pledged to 'clean this region from terrorism.' 

In neighboring India, which has long accused Pakistan of supporting anti-India guerrillas, schools on Wednesday observed two minutes of silence for the Peshawar victims at the urging of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called the attack 'a senseless act of unspeakable brutality.'

Ziauddin Yousafzai, Pakistani diplomat and the father of Malala Yousafzai, told the BBC Today programme that his family was traumatised by the atrocity.

He said: 'Yesterday we heard about this horrible news, my whole family was in trauma. It is the extreme of extremism.

'I can imagine how much sadness, terror and horror those families will be passing through now.

'Yesterday my wife had a fit, she went into unconsciousness for five to 10 minutes. I have never seen my daughter so sad and upset as I saw her yesterday. 

'Schools should be safe places for children. I am afraid that if they [Taliban] are not countered, we may see more horrible things in future.'

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Pakistani Army soldiers use explosive detectors as they inspect the Army Public School the day after the attack

Nobel prize winner Malala 'heartbroken' by Pakistan school attack

Read more:

• BBC Radio 4 - Today
• Terrorists 'Plotting To Bomb School Buses'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2880267/My-mother-died-saving-children-NOT-hiding-locked-toilet-says-son-murdered-Peshawar-school-headmistress.html#ixzz3MNt4LZzk
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