Congressional lawmakers in both parties Tuesday condemned a Taliban attack on an army high school in Pakistan that left 141 people – most of them students – dead.
‘Today’s terrorist attack in Pakistan – on schoolchildren – is absolutely sickening,’ said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. ‘The heinous attack demonstrates once again the brutality of the Pakistani Taliban in pushing its extreme ideology, with complete disregard for the lives of innocent children and civilians.’
Taliban gunmen opened fire on the school in Peshawar, killing the 141 and wounding hundreds of other people. Pakistani police officials killed seven militants during a nine-hour battle.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said ‘the Pakistani Taliban’s extremism and terrorism continues to deny peace and stability to the Pakistani people and their regional neighbors.’
‘We in the United States support the Pakistani government in their fight against extremism, and we stand with the people of Pakistan during this dark hour.’
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., added that ‘there can be no justification ever for the murder and maiming of innocent students.’
‘The United States will continue to support the Pakistani government’s efforts to root out the Taliban and remove the scourge of terrorism from that country as its people seek a better future for themselves and for their children.’