Taliban killed school kids to avenge Malala Nobel?

Pakistani Taliban had shot Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012 while on a school bus, as punishment for supporting education for women in Pakistan.

She has since become a worldwide symbol for the fight against oppression on women and the right to education.

Tuesday’s attack on a school by the Pakistani Taliban was being seen as a means of sending a strong message to Malala’s supporters, who have since grown in number after she was conferred the Nobel Peace Prize.

It is also suspected that the attack was conducted as revenge against Malala Yousafzai winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Taliban has previously warned that Malala had forged a pact with 'Western satanic forces'.

After the attack, Malala said she was "heartbroken" by "the senseless and cold-blooded" killings.

In a statement to the press, she said: "I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us. Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this. I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts and stand united with the government and armed forces of Pakistan whose efforts so far to address this horrific event are commendable. I, along with millions of others around the world, mourn these children, my brothers and sisters - but we will never be defeated."

A teacher was burnt alive while her students were forced to watch the horrifying incident as Taliban gunmen attacked the Army Public School at Peshawar in Pakistan in an apparent revenge attack for a major military offensive in the north Waziristan tribal region.

The woman was singled out from others and burnt alive, because she was married to a soldier in the Pakistan Army.

Tuesday’s attack on the children has been termed as the most brutal attack in Pakistan’s history.

Eyewitnesses recounted with horror, how students were forced to watch their teachers, as their bodies were burned beyond recognition.

Teenage survivor Shahrukh Khan, who ducked below his desk with classmates when four gunmen burst into their room, described how he played dead after being shot in both legs, stuffing his tie into his mouth to stifle his screams.

"I saw a pair of big black boots coming towards me, this guy was probably hunting for students hiding beneath the benches," the 16-year-old told AFP from the trauma ward of the city's Lady Reading Hospital.

"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," he said.

"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."

Most of their victims, aged from six to 18, were shot in the head and chest.