Peshawar school massacre: Family given wrong body as victims' faces 'badly burned'

The family of one of the dozens of children killed in a Pakistani Taliban attack in a school in Peshawar was given the wrong body as the victims' faces were badly burned due to suicide bomb explosions, Reuters reported.

It is believed that the school, which mainly enrols army members' children, was targeted to discourage military activity in the area.

Some have also suggested the attack was in revenge for Pakistani children's rights activist Malala Yousafzai being awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

Witnesses explained that most victims were shot in the first hours of the assault when the six militants fired hundreds of bullets in the building.

Three of the militants then blew themselves up, killing dozens.

Shahrukh Khan, 15, was shot in both legs but survived after hiding under a bench. He said: "One of my teachers was crying, she was shot in the hand and she was crying in pain.

"One terrorist then walked up to her and started shooting her until she stopped making any sound. All around me my friends were lying injured and dead."

Another student, 13-year-old Khalid Khan said: "They opened fire at the students and then went out. The army doctor and soldiers managed to escape and we locked the doors from inside, but very soon they came, broke the doors and entered and again started firing.

"‎They killed most of my class mates and then I didn't know what happened as I was brought to the hospital."

‎He added many tried to hide under their desks but were shot anyway.

The father of another child who survived the attack and was taken to hospital said: "He keeps screaming: 'take me home, take me home, they will come back and kill me'".

Although the school attack was the deadliest so far, Taliban often attack educational institutions which they see as a "promotion of Western decadence and un-Islamic teachings."

Reports by human rights groups have suggested that the militants have attacked at least 1,000 schools in the past five years.