Residents hold lighted candles during a ceremony in Lahore yesterday to pay tribute to victims on the second anniversary of an attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.
Peshawar: Parents of children killed when Taliban gunmen overran a Pakistan school gathered yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the attack -- the country's worst ever extremist outrage.
More than 150 people -- mostly students -- perished when heavily-armed men raced through the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, firing indiscriminately.
"We can't forget those children," Pakistan's newly appointed military chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa told the gathering. "The aim of today's function is to recall how much blood was spilled. The wound is very deep and its complete healing is impossible".
At a memorial in the school, smartly dressed military officers presented a salute in tribute to the students and staff who died.
In the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, of which Peshawar is capital, speaker Asad Qaiser lit candles in the presence of cabinet members and lawmakers.
The Taliban have said they carried out the attack, in which all nine gunmen died, in retaliation for an army offensive on extremists in the tribal areas.
Authorities have released very few details about their investigation, despite hanging at least four people involved in the attack. The attack hardened public opinion against extremism.
