On 16 December 2014, six gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

According to various news agencies and commentators, the nature and preparation of the attack was very similar to that of the Beslan school hostage crisis that occurred in the North Ossetia–Alania region of the Russian Federation in 2004.

[21] In June 2014, a joint military offensive was conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against various groups in North Waziristan which had been the site of a wave of violence.

The military offensive, Operation Zarb-e-Azb, was launched in the wake of the 8 June attack on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, for which the TTP claimed responsibility.

The terrorists, bearing automatic weapons and grenades, moved straight toward the auditorium located at the centre of the complex and opened fire indiscriminately on the children who were gathered there for an assembly on first aid training.

A search and clearance operation was started immediately to defuse any IEDs planted by the gunmen within the school premises or in the suicide vests that the terrorists were wearing.

[27] The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as revenge for Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the Pakistani military's offensive in North Waziristan that started in summer 2014.

During the massacre, Khorasani also said, "Our suicide bombers have entered the school, they have instructions not to harm the children, but to target the Army personnel.

[31] On 18 December 2014, a video was released by TTP on their website showing a man named Umar Mansoor revealing that he was the mastermind behind the Peshawar School attack.

[32] However, the Pakistan government officials commented that the planning of the attack was actually carried out by Saddam Jan, who was instructed by Umar Mansoor on behalf of Maulana Fazlullah.

[33] On 26 December 2014 at midnight, Jan was hunted and killed by the special forces in Khyber Agency in a secret hideout alongside six unidentified high-value targets.

The pictures of six of the gunmen were released by the Pakistani Taliban:[34][35] The SIM card of the mobile phone that was used by the terrorists was found to be registered to a woman from Hasilpur, Punjab.

[36]The attack sparked widespread reactions in Pakistan, receiving condemnations from public, government, political and religious entities, journalists, and other members of Pakistani society.

Major Pakistani political entities denounced and heavily condemned the attack on innocent children, calling for a strong reaction against the militants.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai condemned the attack, saying in a statement: "I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us".

"[44] On the second day after the attack, the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in terror-related cases by Nawaz Sharif[45][46] after which Mohammed Aqeel along with Arshad Mehmood, convicted for a failed assassination attempt on the previous President, General Pervez Musharraf, were executed on 19 December.

[56] On 17 December 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved paperwork to remove the moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism cases.

[65] The massacre also marked an escalation in the violence of TTP-backed terrorism, with subsequent attacks showing the same disregard for civilian lives.

[68] On 20 December, another UAV strike targeted and killed five suspected TTP members in North Waziristan, and according to officials the death toll was expected to rise.

[71] Mastermind of the attack, Umar Mansoor, was reported to have been wounded in a United States drone strike in Paktia Province of Afghanistan on 17 October 2017.

TTP confirmed his death in a statement sent to journalists through e-mail and added that Khalifa Usman Mansoor will replace him as the new commander for the areas of Darra Adam Khel and Peshawar.

[73] Reports were circulating widely in televised news media about law enforcement agencies tracking down the militants and targeting TTP operatives in a series of police encounters taking place in all over the country.

After the school attack, Pakistani intelligence agencies chased down and apprehended four TTP terrorists in Quetta, before they could make their escape to Afghanistan.

On 20 December, a team of Pakistan Rangers personnel raided a safe house in Manghopir area of Karachi and killed five members of the TTP in a shootout.

In an exchange of fire at the safe house, the KPK police and other law enforcement agencies gunned down the six TTP fighters, including their commander and two other high-value targets who assisted in the school attack.

[76] Acting on Pakistani Military Intelligence information, Special Service Group Navy (SSGN) teams were inserted into the secret hideout in Khyber Agency and stalked the six terrorists led by Saddam Jan — the mastermind of the Army Public School attack.

[77] In another separate midnight action in Lahore, teams of FIA agents, assisted by the Punjab Police, raided a house located in Burki Road.

"[80] In further talks, General Raheel told the Afghan president that "Pakistan's military could eliminate TTP's sanctuaries in Kunar and Nuristan Province on its own but was showing restraint due to Afghanistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

[82][83][84] On the night of 18 December, the Pakistani military pursued the militants and immediately launched a simultaneous ground offensive in the Khyber Agency and the Tirah Valley when the terrorists were on the run to Afghanistan.

[84] In a separate air strike in Khyber Agency on the same night, the PAF's fighter aircraft reportedly killed a top commander and 17 other militants who were attempting to relocate to Afghanistan.