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Peshawar massacre suspects arrested

January 17, 2015

Afghan authorities have arrested five men accused as accomplices in the December massacre at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan. The Taliban carried out the strike, which killed almost 150 people, most of them children.

https://p.dw.com/p/1EM4D
The aftermath of the attack in the Army Public School in Peshawar 17.12.2014
Image: AFP/Getty Images/A Majeed

The five men suspected of being involved in the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar were arrested in eastern Afghanistan, officials confirmed Saturday.

The suspects, who according to the news agency dpa were from Pakistan, were being questioned in Afghanistan and due to be handed over to Pakistani authorities. According to dpa, a Pakistani security official said the arrests came after Pakistan supplied information to the Afghan government.

News agents quoting anonymous diplomats and officials report that a prisoner exchange between the neighboring nations was being considered.

On December 16, gunmen from the Pakistani Taliban stormed the school and killed some 150 people, most of them students, in an attack which shocked Pakistan. The Taliban said they were acting in revenge for a campaign by the country's military against them in the North Waziristan tribal region.

In the wake of the school massacre, Pakistan has ended its moratorium on the death penalty and established military courts to try terror cases. Several convicted militants have been hanged in the weeks since.

se/gsw (AP, dpa, AFP)