News and Views

Taliban attack school bus, kill 4 children | PESHAWAR PAKISTAN | DAWN.COM

Published

September 14, 2011

Yesterday, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan reached another low in their targeting of civilian targets when they ambushed a school bus with heavy weaponry. This attack was claimed to be a punishment for the families of those who were organizing anti-Taliban militias.

The TTP has continuously targeted civilians in their ongoing resistance against the Pakistan government. Last month over 50 were killed when a suicide bomber attacked the Friday congregation. This was not the first such attack when innocent worshippers were targeted by the TTP. However, murder of school going children is an act that is a new low.

Taliban attack school bus, kill 4 children

By Ali Hazrat Bacha | DAWN.COM

Keep supporting MuslimMatters for the sake of Allah

Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

PESHAWAR, Sept 13: Militants attacked a school bus on the Kohat road in the suburbs of the city on Tuesday. Four children and the driver of the bus were killed and 14 children, two woman teachers and two other people were injured.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack and said it wanted to punish families of the children for organizing anti-Taliban militias.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Abdul Kalam Khan told Dawn the children from Kalakhel village of Khyber Agency were going home from the Khyber Model School at about 1.50pm when they were attacked.

“We had no information about any possibility of such an attack. However, there were reports about security threats and, therefore, police established checkpoints on the roads in the city,” the SP said.

DSP Sahibzada Sajjad said the van was attacked with rocket-launchers, hand-grenades and Kalashnikovs. In about 10 minutes, the assailants vanished from the area which is hardly 500 meters from the tribal region. (More)

Gunmen Kill Children In Pakistan Bus Attack (news.sky.com)
Pakistan: Taliban kill children in attack on school bus (independent.co.uk)
Suicide bomber strikes Pakistani mosque during Friday prayers, killing 48 and wounding 85 | AP (muslimmatters.org)
Yasir Qadhi | Hindsight is 20-20 (muslimmatters.org)
Losing Battle of Hearts & Minds: The Case of Raymond Allen Davis & Poor American Response (muslimmatters.org)

0 Shares

Keep supporting MuslimMatters for the sake of Allah

Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

Up Next

Bomb blast in Karachi Pakistan targets house of SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam, School district

Don't Miss

10th Anniversary of 9/11: Sh. Yasir Qadhi at United for Change Conference

Aly Balagamwala

Aly is an entrepreneur who was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan where he currently resides. He has been associated with many diverse fields such as Textiles, Cement, Minerals & Ores, Feeds and Agri-Commodities. As a Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, and Hypnotist, he works with clients to reach the Next Level in their personal and professional lives, to breakthrough performance blocks, self-doubts, or habits that limit them from reaching their true potential. Send him a message to find out more. Known on Social Media as DiscoMaulvi, he serves in operational and advisory roles for LiveDeen and Azaan Institute. He is also a co-founder and trustee of Ihsaas Trust, a not-for-profit started in 2012 with a vision to improve social mobility for Karachi’s under-privileged. Our distinguishing factor is the efficient utilization of Sadaqah and Zakat for healthcare and rations and to provide micro-finance for Enterprise Facilitation. Aly joined the team of MM in 2011 as a blogger/writer and is currently the Team Lead for the Comments Team and a former member of the Executive Shurah. He is easily accessible via Twitter or through his Public Page on Facebook where you can learn more about him.

14 Comments

Michael Scott

September 14, 2011 at 10:51 AM

disgusting to say the least. I feel like throwing up.

Reply
Umm Sulaim

September 14, 2011 at 11:30 AM

I read this yesterday on another website; the students – and not their parents – and other innocent persons do have my empathy.

Umm Sulaim

Reply
Carlos

September 15, 2011 at 1:57 AM

To any Taliban sympathizers: It is bad enough that war inflicts collateral damage on children. How can you support a movement that actually intentionally chooses children as its targets?!

Reply
- Shaikh Y
  
  September 15, 2011 at 9:06 AM
  
  Is it really as ‘black-and-white’ as Taliban attacking schoolbus and killing children? who knows who was behind this brutal killing in order to tarnish the movement which has popularity in the majority of Afghanistan ?
  
  Let us stop being sheep while following the mainstream media reporting . Pick up history books or read ‘Propaganda’ by Edward Bernays
  
  *This comment was in violation of MM Comment Policy requiring names or Kunyahs to be used. Based on the e-mail address the name has been edited*
  
  Reply
  - Aly Balagamwala
    
    September 15, 2011 at 10:19 AM
    
    Dear Shaikh Y
    Assalamu’Alaikum:
    
    The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for this. Thus, the issue of knowing who is behind this doesn’t come into play nor does the issue of being sheep following mainstream media reporting. The TTP is not acknowledged by the Afghan Talibans as part of their movement and no where do I claim in the article they are the same.
    
    -Aly
    
    Reply
- Mansoor Ansari
  
  September 15, 2011 at 10:58 AM
  
  This is Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan not the Afghan Taliban, in case u didn’t know.
  
  While such acts are hideous, AJE says ‘Most attacks have been on security forces and government or Western targets, but civilians have also been hit.’
  
  Reply
  - Amad
    
    September 15, 2011 at 12:58 PM
    
    While such acts are hideous, AJE says ‘Most attacks have been on security forces and government or Western targets, but civilians have also been hit.’
    
    And the point is? None of the targets are “okay”.
    
    Reply
    - Mansoor Ansari
      
      September 19, 2011 at 4:10 PM
      
      Yes they not okay, they are ok only in Libya.
      
      Reply
Greg Abdul

September 15, 2011 at 2:37 AM

The big question modern Fuqaha have to answer is…

Are they really Muslims? Is this an act of kufr? Or do we only kick black nationalists out of Islam?

Reply
- Amad
  
  September 15, 2011 at 8:30 AM
  
  Are you posting your comment on the right post? “black nationalists”?
  
  Reply
Pingback: BREAKING NEWS | Bomb blast in Karachi Pakistan targets house of SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam, School district | MuslimMatters.org
Mansoor Ansari

September 19, 2011 at 4:12 PM

FYI

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan denies involvement in Matani school van attack
http://www.pukhtoonistangazette.com/news.php?news_id=4786&cat_id=3

Reply
- Aly Balagamwala
  
  September 20, 2011 at 3:00 AM
  
  Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has denied involvement in attack on school van in Matani and had termed it a terrorist act that is condemenable on all counts. The TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan while writing to Pukhtoonistan Gazette expressed deep sorrows over the tragic incident in Matani that resulted in the killing of innocent kids and peaceful citizens on Tuesday, September, 13, 2011.He added that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan never kills innocent children and women.
  
  They claim not to kill innocent children and women but in the case of the bomb blast yesterday targeting SSP CID’s house http://muslimmatters.org/2011/09/19/breaking-news-bomb-blast-karachi-pakistan-targets-house-ssp-cid-chaudhry-aslam-school-district/ they hit in the middle of the school district right around school time and did kill innocent women and children. And they took responsibility of this attack. So that contradicts their statement.
  
  Reply
ZAI

September 19, 2011 at 10:26 PM

What’s really telling here is that somehow a distinction is made between the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban.
No wonder Pakistan is a mess.

Sorry, but the Afghan Taliban have been abusing and terrorizing the Afghan populace as well.
They regularly target Afghan teachers and children for murder and burn down schools.They terrorize even Masjids and traditional Muslim scholars just as in Pakistan.
How are they ANY better than the TTP?

Until and unless the Pakistani people realize this and stop making these exceptions, your country will continue to suffer just as Afghanistan does. Extremism knows no borders, and the Pakistani governments agenda of promoting it in Afghanistan and Kashmir will eventually target Pakistanis as well. These extremists can NOT be controlled and they do not care about borders and exceptions to their interests.

To the poster above, sorry brother but the “majority” of Afghan people do NOT support the Taliban.
Repeating that over and over again on Muslim websites will not make it true.
I dare any of you to go to any Afghan forum and see what the majority of people, INCLUDING Afghan Pashtuns, say about the Taliban.

If Pashtuns in the south are less vocal about this, it is because of two reasons:

1.) They have been threatened by the Talibs to keep quiet or be killed just like various governors, mollahs, police officers like Malali Kakar, etc. have been

or

2.) SOME support the Taliban out of a nationalist motive of making the Americans leave Afghanistan.

Almost NO ONE supports their ideology or them ever monopolizing government power in Afghanistan again though. These murderers far outweigh even NATO or the US in numbers of civilian deaths and that is a FACT that cannot be wished away.

Again, the fact that this distinction is being made is a sad comment on the internal politics of the Muslim world. Are we this desperate to kick dirt in the US’s face? Pathetic. I thought we were supposed to stand up for whats right…not indulge in our own nationalist “interests”….

Reply