Peshawar school attack, second deadliest after Beslan massacre

Mumbai:  The Peshawar school attack which has left 130 killed and 126 injured, mostly children, is the second most violent attack on children after the Beslan massacre.

On 1st September 2004, armed Islamic terrorists, who were Ingush and Chechen had attacked School Number One, in the town of Beslan.

The attack lasted for 3 days and over 1,100 people were taken hostage, including 777 children.

Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev had launched the attack to demand recognition of Chechenya and its independence from Russia.

Over 385 hostages were killed in the attacks, of which 186 were children. A large number of people were injured and reported missing.

The school in Beslan was stormed by 32 heavily armed men and 2 women, wearing suicide bomb belts.

During the initial stages of attack, 50 people from the school had managed to escape, while 1,100 people were taken hostage.

Children were used as human shields and were placed near windows, to prevent snipers from taking down the terrorists.

In a message delivered by a released hostage, the attackers threatened to kill 10 hostages if electricity or communication is cut, 20 hostages for every one of them wounded, 50 hostages for every killed, and to kill everybody if 5 attackers are killed.

On the third day of the attack, when security forces managed to get into the school, after a portion of the school’s wall had collapsed, over 100 bodies were found, mostly in the gym, where explosions took place and the roof had collapsed.

The standoff between security forces and terrorists finally came to an end on 3rd September 2004, with all the terrorists and hostages in the school basement being killed.

After the deadly massacre by terrorists ended, 646 people were admitted to hospitals, of which 227 were children. 28 terrorists were killed and 3 of them were taken into custody.

Here is a list of some of the worst terror attacks where children were the biggest casualty:

• Peshawar, Pakistan - October 28, 2009: 118 people were killed of which 20 were children in a terrorist attack at a market place.
• Baghdad, Iraq - October 25,2009: 155 people were killed of which 20 were children in a bomb attack on government buildings.
• Logar province, Afghanistan - July 9, 2009: 25 people were killed of which 16 children were killed in a truck bombing on a highway.
• Baghlani-jadid, Afghanistan - November 6, 2007: 77 people were killed of which 61 were children in a suicide bombing at a public gathering.