Faces of the innocents: Heartbreaking images show children massacred by Taliban in school horror attack
- Beenish Pervaiz studied Computer Science at the University of Greenwich
- She was one of the teachers slaughtered by gunmen in yesterday's attack
- Best friends who died side-by-side are also being mourned by classmates
- Staff bravely confronted Taliban gunmen in bid to let pupils flee to safety
- Some were burned alive in front of children as militants stormed building
This heartbreaking picture gallery shows
the faces of some of the 148 innocent children slaughtered by Taliban
militants as they stormed a school in the deadliest terrorist attack in
Pakistan's history.
As mass funerals
took place across Peshawar on the first of three days of national
mourning, the identities of those murdered by the gloating gunmen at the
military-run school began to emerge.
Among
those who lost their lives were two teachers who were allegedly burned
to death in front of their pupils as they attempted to help the young
children.
Two best friends, who died
side-by-side in a hail of bullets, were also being mourned last night by
classmates who miraculously survived the three-hour bloodshed.
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A Facebook memorial page set up in
tribute of Mubeen Afridi - one of the two young friends - had received
20,000 likes just hours after the atrocity.
The
page, which was set up by one of his friends Mohammad Yassin in the
aftermath of the massacre, bore the quote: 'Our smile is much stronger
than your gun'.
Also among the victims
was a mother-of-three who studied at a London university before becoming
a teacher at the Army Public School in Peshawar.
Beenish
Pervaiz, a former Computer Science student at the University of
Greenwich, was reportedly one of the teachers who was slaughtered to
death by gunmen as she tried to help her young pupils during the attack.
According to her Facebook profile,
Beenish was married to Umer Butt and was a mother to three young girls
Hiba, Hamna and Affaf. The youngest one, Affaf, was born in July this
year, Pakistan Today reports.
As
Peshawar began dealing with the aftermath, relatives also spoke of
their desperate search to find loved ones caught up in the massacre -
only to be told the devastating news they had been killed.
Their
heartbreaking accounts emerged as the death toll from the atrocity rose
to 148 - including 132 children - after Taliban gunmen and suicide
bombers stormed their military school.
Syed
Abid Ali Shah told how his wife was killed and one of his sons was
injured in the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.
His wife, Farhat Jaffery 37, was among at
least nine teachers who died while bravely confronting the militants in a
bid to allow her pupils to run to safety.
A
poignant image also emerged reportedly showing five of the dead members
of staff posing for a school photograph with their pupils.
Meanwhile,
hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of the school's principal
Tahira Kazi, where her son praised her courage and commitment to the
school.
Mrs Kazi was reportedly killed by a grenade as the militants rampaged through the complex.
PICTURED, THE 15-YEAR-OLD PALS WHO DIED SIDE-BY-SIDE
Two best friends who perished together in the massacre were last night being mourned by their classmates.
Mubeen
Afridi and Rafiq Bangash, both 15, were killed in a hail of bullets and
bombs which left 148 – most of them teenage boys – dead.
Mohammad
Yassin, 16, survived the deadly assault and last night posted a photo
of himself with the pair on his social media page, with the words:
‘Friends uplift the soul.’
The cover
photo on Mubeen’s Facebook page read: ‘We are a nation of beauty and
great grief. Our smile is much stronger than your gun.’
A
Facebook memorial page set up in his name had attracted more than
20,000 likes just a few hours after the atrocity. Mubeen’s uncle, Anwar
Afridi, said: ‘What evil have we done for a boy like that to be killed?’
Pupils
told yesterday how their 24-year-old teacher tried to protect them,
only to be doused in petrol and torched in front of them.
Irfan
Ullah, who was shot in the chest, said Afsha Ahmed, one of the youngest
teachers at the Army School in Peshawar, had given her life to save
theirs.
He said: ‘The [gunmen] entered
our classroom as we were sitting with our teacher. She seemed to
understand what was going on before we did because she immediately stood
up and prevented the terrorists from targeting us.’
Speaking
from a bed in Peshawar’s crowded Lady Reading Hospital, the 15-year-old
said Miss Ahmed told the gunmen she would not let them shoot her
pupils. ‘Her last words to the terrorists were “You must kill me first
because I will not see my students’ bodies lying in front of me”,’ he
said. ‘She was so brave.’
Despite her bravery, he said, the gunmen threw petrol at her.
‘The next thing we knew, she was on fire,’ Irfan said. ‘Even while burning, she shouted at us to run away and find refuge.’
The
school’s principal, Tahira Qazi, was killed in a bathroom adjoining her
office, in which she had locked herself when she heard the sound of
gunfire. A gunman threw a grenade through an air vent.
It is believed she was targeted because she is married to a retired army colonel, Kazi Zafrullah.
Imtiaz Hussain
Mr
Shah, who works at an electricity company, said he dashed to the school
on his bike after hearing of the attack, all the time trying to reach
his wife on her phone.
He told MailOnline: 'I was trying to speak to my wife, but it was not possible as her mobile was switched off.
'During this time, we heard severe exchange of fire and blasts from hand grenades.'
Ambulance began arriving to take the injured, dead and dying away, but in the chaos, he was unable to find his family.
He
said: 'Suddenly, I got a call from Lady Reading Hospital and a relative
told me that my younger son Syed Baqir, who is 15, was there and that
he was slightly injured.
'I thanked God that one of my son is fine. But again I was thinking about my other son and wife.
'I stayed outside and calling my wife’s mobile number but no reply.'
Around four hours after the attack, he received the message he hoped he would never get.
He added: 'I was informed about the presence of dead body of my wife in a military hospital.'
Sumaira
Mahfooz, a teacher at another school, said she learned that her
14-year-old son Ahmad Elahi had died after reading a list of the
deceased at the military hospital.
She said: 'I want public execution for all terrorists. I will not send my (other) son to school now.
'The life of my son is more important then the education.'
Hundreds of people earlier attended the funeral prayer for principal Mrs Kazi, held in a field of wheat crops.
Her son Ahmedullah, 23, said that he was proud of his mother.
'She was more committed to the students of the school than her family.'
Ahmedullah 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 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.'
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.'
Meanwhile, the pictures of
some of the child victims were released including a pupil who had set
himself the task of memorising the Qu'ran.
Heartbreaking photographs and tributes
have begun circulating online in memory of the students who were
slaughtered when Taliban militants stormed their military school in
Peshawar.
Among them was Mubeen Shah
Afridi who has already attracted 20,000 likes on a Facebook memorial
page set up in his name just a few hours after the atrocity.
The group's biography page describes Mubeen as a hero, whose death 'would never be forgotten nor would it get wasted'
A
caption under the cover picture on his own Facebook page read: 'We are a
nation of beauty and great grief. Our smile is much stronger than your
gun'.
He had been trying to learn the Islamic religious text from memory.
The
identities of the victims were revealed as more horrifying accounts
emerged from survivors including one teenager who told how his friends
were cut down as gunmen opened fire 'like hell' during a first-aid
class.
Meanwhile, the first devastating
images emerged of the blood-soaked classrooms where the children and
nine of their teachers were massacred.
Other pupils who lost their lives were teenagers Rafiq Bangash and Mohammad Yassin.
A
poignant image was posted on Twitter showing the pair enjoying a lunch
break at the school with two friends who survived the massacre, with the
message: 'They all are martyred - may their souls rest in peace'.
Mohammad,
15, a keen amateur photographer, had originally posted the photo on his
social media page, with the caption: 'Friends uplift the soul.'
Their
two friends who managed to escape the killing spree, Talha Munir
Paracha and Hassan Javed Khan, later changed their profile pictures to
an all-black image in mourning for Pakistan's 'Black Day'.
In the latest horrifying story from
child survivors, Ehsan Elahi, 13, told how he survived by playing dead
after being shot twice in the arm as militants 'sprayed bullets like
hell' into his class, turning the room into a 'pool of blood and death'.
Speaking
to MailOnline from his hospital bed, the eight-grade pupil said he was
being taught first aid by army instructors in the main hall when he
heard the sound of gunfire drawing nearer.
He said: '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'.
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.
Other pupils who lost their lives were teenagers Rafiq Bangash and Mohammad Yassin.
A
poignant image was posted on Twitter showing the pair enjoying a lunch
break at the school with two friends who survived the massacre, with the
message: 'They all are martyred - may their souls rest in peace'.
Mohammad, 15, a keen amateur
photographer, had originally posted the photo on his social media page,
with the caption: 'Friends uplift the soul.'
Their
two friends who managed to escape the killing spree, Talha Munir
Paracha and Hassan Javed Khan, later changed their profile pictures to
an all-black image in mourning for Pakistan's 'Black Day'.
In
the latest horrifying story from child survivors, Ehsan Elahi, 13, told
how he survived by playing dead after being shot twice in the arm as
militants 'sprayed bullets like hell' into his class, turning the room
into a 'pool of blood and death'.
'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 every where.
'I saw lifeless faces of many of my friends when I was leaving the hall. Their faces are still in front of my eyes.'
Speaking
to MailOnline from his hospital bed, the eight-grade pupil said he was
being taught first aid by army instructors in the main hall when he
heard the sound of gunfire drawing nearer.
'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.
Another pupil told how he
watched his 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.
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.
Horrifying
pictures revealed the carnage wrought by seven extremist gunmen who
sprayed children with bullets as they sat receiving first aid tuition
and exploded suicide bombs in a room of 60 pupils.
As
the Pakistani city of Peshawar began the harrowing process of
conducting mass funerals, the family of a teacher torched alive in front
of her class gathered to say funeral prayers.
Tahira
Kazi, the principal of the Army Public School and College in Peshawar,
was set on fire by jihadists who slaughtered so many.
It is believed she was targeted because she is married to a retired army colonel, Kazi Zafrullah.
The picture obtained by MailOnline shows her standing proudly next to a student believed to be her son.
Today
the Pakistani prime minister lifted a moratorium on the death penalty,
as the school reopened to reveal the terrifying aftermath of the
atrocity, including Mrs Kazi's office, where a terrorist blew himself
up.
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