At least 84 children among hundreds killed by Taliban in Pakistan school (updated)

A Taliban attack on an army-run school in north-west Pakistan has left at least 104 people dead and dozens wounded, local authorities say.

PESHAWAR - Sources at the scene said at least six armed men had entered the military-run Army Public School in Peshawar.

Sharif Khan, a doctor at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, told the AFP news agency they had received 35 wounded, two of them teachers, as well as the bodies of three students.

A security official said hundreds of students and staff were in the school when the attack began, though it was not immediately clear how many are still being held.

The school on Peshawar's Warsak Road is part of the Army Public Schools and Colleges System, which runs 146 schools nationwide for the children of military personnel and civilians. Its students range in age from around 10 to 18.

The schools educate the children of both officers and non-commissioned soldiers and army wives often teach in them.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the gunmen had been ordered to shoot older students but not children.

A spokesman for the group said the attack was retaliation for the Pakistan army's continuing operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal area close to Peshawar.

"They include target killers and suicide attackers," TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani told AFP.

"This attack is a response to Zarb-e-Azab and the killing of Taliban fighters and harassing their families."

Zarb-e-Azb is the official name for the army's offensive against strongholds of the Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan.

The offensive has killed more than 1,600 militants, according to an AFP tally.

The military has hailed the operation as a major success in disrupting Taliban militancy.

The semi-autonomous tribal areas that border Afghanistan have for years been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes - including Al Qaeda and the homegrown TTP as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.

The United States pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out the sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which militants have used to launch attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.