Taliban massacre: ‘Their sole purpose was to kill those kids’

Pakistani officials have fended off Taliban gunmen who stormed a military school in Peshawar Tuesday, but not before the attackers massacred 132 children and nine staff members.

"Their sole purpose, it seems, was to kill those innocent kids. That's what they did," military spokesman Asim Bajwa said.

Authorities say most of the victims were students in grades 1-10 at the army public school. 

"My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now," Fox News quoted Tahir Ali, who arrived at the hospital to claim the body of his 14-year-old son Abdullah. "My son was my dream. My dream has been killed."

Tuesday's attack is the worst in Pakistan in over a year. Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurasani claimed responsibility for the massacre, saying that six suicide bombers initiated it in revenge for Taliban members killed by Pakstani authorities.

His organization, Tehreek-e-Taliban, is a Pakistani military group working to overthrow the government.

The jihadists entered the school Tuesday morning and began shooting at random until army commandos arrived at the scene. The school is located at the edge of military quarters in Peshawar but most of the students are civilian.

Local hospitals are treating dozens of the injured.

Peshawar has endured frequent terror attacks in the past but recently had enjoyed a relative lull.