Pakistani Christians have condemned a brutal Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar this morning that killed at least 130 people, most of them children.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Mumbai, said his soul was "overwhelmed" by sorrow.
This is a "tragedy that unites us all," the Indian cardinal told AsiaNews. "The Church of India extends its condolences to those who suffer and pledges its prayers for the relatives and families of the victims," he said, adding: "tomorrow, being the Christmas Novena, we the Catholic Church in India, especially our school children, will dedicate ourselves more fervently to prayer and to acts of peace as we pray to the Prince of Peace who alone can bring true peace to the world."
The suicide blast has been described as the worst attack of its kind in Pakistan.
"This is a barbaric, inhuman and cowardly act," Cecil Chaudhry, executive director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops' Conference, told the Catholic News Service.
"It is beyond imagination how innocent children of army personnel could be targeted like this," said Choudhry.
The British Pakistani Christian Association (BCPA) has appealed for donations for a fund to support victims.
Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the BPCA, told Radio Five Live today that he wanted to show solidarity with Muslim victims and recalled the impact on Christians of a Taliban bomb attack on a church in Peshawar last year.
In a statement the BCPA said: "This incident hammers home a message that the Taliban are a group that are morally reprehensible and simply cannot be engaged with diplomatically. The group needs to be stopped and a more concerted effort to stop their terror must be made a priority."
Five or six militants entered the school, with the BBC reporting that they seemed intent “on killing as many students as possible”.
A member of staff told Reuters that the militants scaled the side of the army-run school at 10:00 local time (5:00 GMT). He assumed they were children playing a game until he saw the firearms they carried.
"As soon as the firing started, we ran to our classrooms," he said. "They were entering every class and they were killing the children."
The school is believed to have been targeted in response to recent army operations against the Taliban in North Waziristan.
Students, many of whom are the children of army personnel, were evacuated by troops. Many of the injured have been taken to hospital, where their parents and families wait.
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