Tears roll down as innocent survivors share their agony

They donned their ironed uniforms, finished their breakfast and left for school, unaware of the death trap awaiting them. Little did they knew that they would never return home to their parents.

The school bell rang for the fourth class and death approached them. They saw gunmen clad in white outfit, donning jackets, pumping bullets into the bodies. They could do nothing, but pray silently to the Almighty for their lives.

While around 148 among them couldn't escape death, the wounded survivors are still fearing death.

The terrorist attack on their school in Peshawar has left them shattered, petrified.

When the reporters approached them for a one-to-one, tears rolled down their cheeks and in a feeble voice, the innocent survivors shared their agony.

Lying on the hospital bed, 16 year-old Shahrukh Khan, whom the Taliban men shot in both legs, articulated, "I saw a pair of big black boots coming towards me, this guy was probably hunting for students hiding beneath the benches.

"My body was shivering. I saw death so close and I will never forget the black boots approaching me – I felt as though it was death that was approaching me.

"I folded my tie and pushed it into my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream. The man with big boots kept on looking for students and pumping bullets into their bodies. I lay as still as I could and closed my eyes, waiting to get shot again."

After escaping death, when Shahrukh crawled to the next room, he saw the body of the office assistant at his school set on fire, while she was sitting on a chair.

Another student, Khalid Khan, who is just 13 years old, revealed, "They opened fire at the students and then went out.

"The army doctor and soldiers managed to escape and we locked the doors from inside. But very soon they came, broke the doors and entered and again started firing.

"They killed most of my class mates and then I didn’t know what happened as I was brought to the hospital."

15-year-old biochemistry student, Jalal Ahmed said, "I was attending a lecture in our main hall. There are five doors in the hall. After some time we heard someone kicking the back doors.

"There were gun shots but our teacher told us to be quiet and calmed us down. Then the men came with big guns."

Jalal's father Mushtaq Ahmed, who was standing next to his son's bed at the hospital said, "He keeps screaming: ‘take me home, take me home, they will come back and kill me’.”

A nine-year-old, one amongst the survivors, stated that his teacher asked the students to recite Quran softly and guided them to the back door, from where they escaped.

When he came out alive, he saw his father standing outside the campus and crying along with the other parents.

Terrorists barged into the Army Public School in Peshawar on Tuesday, killing nearly 148 and injuring several.

Stating the reason behind attacking a school, Taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani said, “We selected the army’s school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females. We want them to feel the pain.”

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has asked schools across India to observe a two minute silence to mourn the death.