At least 84 people have died in an attack by Pakistani Taliban fighters on a military-run school in Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's top official.

Pervez Khattak, the region's chief minister, told local media that Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital had taken 24 of the dead, while the Combine Military Hospital had taken at least 60.
More than 83 people were injured, Khattak said, when the fighters stormed the Army Public School on Tuesday morning.

A spokesman for a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, said the attackers had been ordered to shoot older students during the raid that started on Tuesday morning.

Shaukat Yousafzai, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's health minister, said a school function had been going on in the senior section of the school when an explosion went off.

"The matter has largely come under control now. The operation is now complete on the students side, and has moved to the administration block of the school," he said.

"There are no negotiations ongoing at the moment, there is a security forces operation ongoing.

"They have been cleared from the junior section. The explosion occurred in the senior section where there was a [school] function ongoing.

"This is a very saddening event, and these are our children, the children of Pakistan. By killing these children, I am not sure what service these terrorists have done to Islam."

At least six armed men attacked the Army Public School where about 500 students and teachers were present, military officials said.

The attack began at about 11am local time (06:00 GMT).

Hostages evacuated

An initial blast as the attackers hit the school was followed by a second explosion. Small-arms fire was heard throughout the raid as security forces tried to retake the school.

A heavy contingent of security forces arrived at the school shortly after the attack began and launched the rescue operation.

The army said in a statement that many hostages had been evacuated but did not say how many.

"Rescue operation by troops underway. Exchange of fire continues. Bulk of student(s) and staff evacuated. Reports of some children and teachers killed by terrorist," the army said in a brief English-language statement.

Muhammad Khorasani, TTP spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that six suicide bombers had been sent to the school.

He said the attackers had been given orders to allow the youngest students to leave, but to kill the rest.

The attack was in retaliation to an ongoing Pakistan Army operation against the TTP and its allies in the North Waziristan tribal area, Khorasani said.

The Pakistani military began Operation Zarb-e-Azb against the TTP and its allies on June 15, and says that it has so far retaken larges areas of territory from the group, killing more than 1,270.

The army is also carrying out a military operation in Khyber Agency, which borders Peshawar, where it says it has killed at least 179 fighters.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistani volunteers carry a student injured in the shootout at a school under attack by Taliban gunmen, at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan,Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014.

Al-Jazeera