NBC is reporting that the attack took place at the Army Public School in Peshawar and appeared to be aimed at the children of senior military personnel. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the heinous crime, which the White House is calling "heinous" and "horrific".

The attack is said to have occurred around 11:00 a.m. local time (1:00 a.m. EST) when about 500 students in grades one through 10, and their teachers, were inside. A student who survived the attack said the gunmen - who were wearing police uniforms and suicide vests - entered each class "and shot some kids one by one."

A school bus driver named Jamshed Khan said they were standing outside the school when the "firing suddenly started and there was chaos everywhere and the screams of children and teachers."

Pakistani security forces arrived on the scene and a battle ensured, but bombs planted by the Taliban slowed rescue efforts. The siege was not over until 9:00 a.m. (EST).

By then, six Taliban militants had been killed along with scores of children and teachers.

One military source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NBC that the attackers "burnt a teacher in front of the students in the classroom. They literally set the teacher on fire with gasoline and made the kids watch."

Abdullah Jamal, a student who was wounded in the attack, told the Associated Press that when the shooting started, no one really knew what was going on at first.

"Then I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell down. I learned later that I have got a bullet," Jamal said from his hospital bed.

News of the attack outraged the global community. President Barack Obama reassured the people and government of Pakistan that America is standing by them in their battle against terrorism.

"By targeting students and teachers in this heinous attack, terrorists have once again shown their depravity," he said in a statement.

Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who was shot in the face by Taliban for standing up for women's right to education, called the attack "atrocious and cowardly."

The Pakistani Taliban is targeting the government because of its army operations in the country's tribal regions. A spokesman for the group, Muhammad Umar Khorasani, told Reuters that while his group was responsible for the attack, their "suicide bombers" were instructed not to harm the children.

Obviously, somebody didn't get the memo, and more than a hundred children lost their lives today.

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