14 Heartbreaking Photos Show the Aftermath of the Taliban's Brutal Attack on a School

Impact

Pakistani Taliban gunmen murdered 132 students and nine teachers Tuesday at a military school in Peshawar in the country's bloodiest terror attack in recent memory. Pakistan began three days of mourning Wednesday for the victims.

New details are emerging as military investigators and media explore the Army Public School. Insurgents stormed the army-run school and systematically went from room to room shooting children during an eight-hour killing spree, reports say.

"They burnt a teacher in front of the students in a classroom," a military source told NBC News. "They literally set the teacher on fire with gasoline and made the kids watch." The attack was so gruesome that even the Afghan Taliban, which the New York Times said "has pushed civilian casualties in Afghanistan to a new high in the past year," denounced the attack as "un-Islamic" and expressed sympathy with the victims' families.

Despite the horrors of the Taliban's depraved massacre, observers around the world are showing solidarity with the Pakistani people and sending a message to the Taliban: We will not be cowed by terror.

The photos below capture the bloody aftermath of the Taliban's attack — and a glimmer of solidarity around the world.

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Getty Images
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Getty Images
Getty Images
AP
Getty Images
AP
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Despite the horrors in Peshawar, there's a ray of light: Pakistan's long-time geopolitical rival of India has put aside decades of political and military tensions to show solidarity with their neighbors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all Indian schools to observe two minutes of silence Wednesday for the "senseless act of unspeakable brutality" in Peshawar, and thousands of Indians took to social media to show their support with the hashtag #IndiaWithPakistan.

The world is sending a clear message to the Taliban: We're not afraid of you.

AP
AP
Getty Images
Getty Images