President Obama expressed America’s deepest sympathies and offered condolences for the more than 100 victims, many of them children, of Tuesday’s terrorist attack in Peshawar, Pakistan, one of the worst in years.
Condemning the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” Obama said Americans’ hearts and prayers go out to the victims, their families and loved ones.
“By targeting students and teachers in this heinous attack, terrorists have once again shown their depravity,” he said. “We stand with the people of Pakistan, and reiterate the commitment of the United States to support the Government of Pakistan in its efforts to combat terrorism and extremism and to promote peace and stability in the region.”
U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson in a statement earlier Tuesday called the terrorist attack “senseless and inhumane.”
“Few have suffered more at the hands of terrorists and extremists than the people of Pakistan,” he said. “That is why it remains essential for the United States and Pakistan to continue to work together to secure peace and stability in the region.”
The siege began Tuesday morning when at least five heavily armed Taliban gunmen entered the Army Public School in Peshawar and opened fire on students and took dozens hostage, according to media reports.
It comes the day after Obama marked the end of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan in a speech at a joint military base in New Jersey, although nearly 11,000 servicemen and women will remain in the country at the start of the year.
Taliban attacks near Kabul have increased in recent weeks, as the group tries to disrupt the newly established government of Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban attributed the attack in Peshawar to retaliation for the Pakistani military’s offensive against militant strongholds in the Waziristan region along the border of Afghanistan.
