A PROMINENT Dudley councillor has spoken of the community’s shock over the Pakistan school massacre.

Cllr Shaukat Ali, who represents the St Thomas’s ward, says Dudley people from many backgrounds are horrified by the killings at a military school in Peshawar.

A total of 141 people including 132 children were murdered by Taliban fighters during an attack yesterday (December 16).

Cllr Ali, who was born in Pakistan, said: “This is a terrible an inhumane atrocity which targeted children who had gone about their normal way of life to get educated and a better future for themselves.

“These were our children, the world’s children, regardless of their creed or religion. Those responsible for carrying out this brutal act have no place in any society.

“The government of Pakistan must do all it can to deal with these cowards robustly and bring them to justice.

“Our thoughts are with their parents and families who have lost their loved ones. Members of the Muslim and wider community that I have spoken to are shocked by yesterday’s events and are in mourning for the loss of so many young lives and those young children, who had so much to look forward to.”