Turkey declares national mourning over Taliban carnage in Pakistan

Turkey has declared a day of national mourning after Taliban insurgents killed at least 141 people, almost all of them children, by storming an army-run school on Dec. 16, in Pakistan's bloodiest ever terror attack.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced the declaration of national mourning during a joint conference in Ankara with his visiting counterpart from Chad.

Witnesses described to Agence France-Presse how a huge blast shook the Army Public School in the northwestern city of Peshawar and six gunmen in government paramilitary uniforms went from classroom to classroom shooting children, some as young as 12.

Chief military spokesman General Asim Bajwa said 132 students and nine staff were killed in the eight-hour onslaught.

The toll exceeds the 139 killed in blasts targeting former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Karachi in 2007.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the assault, calling it revenge for a major military offensive in the region.
  
A teenage survivor described how he played dead to escape the militants as they rampaged through the school, hunting for people to kill.
  
Shahrukh Khan, 16, said he and his classmates ducked below their desks when four gunmen burst into their room.
  
"I saw a pair of big black boots coming towards me, this guy was probably hunting for students hiding beneath the benches," Khan told AFP from the trauma ward of the city's Lady Reading Hospital
  
Khan decided to play dead after being shot in both legs, stuffing his tie into his mouth to stifle his screams.
  
"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,...