This man suspected of killing six people. Later for you, bill cosbys wife comes to his defense, why her statement has some people raising their eyebrows. But first this hour i want to update you on breaking news coming to us moments ago out of pakistan. At least four students are dead and more than a dozen wounded after gunmen stormed a school in pakistan. This is tack took place in the northwestern city of peshmerga. Police sources say at least six terrorists entered the school after scaling its walls. Now, we understand that Paramilitary Forces entered the area and they right now are conducting a security sweep of the most troubling aspect of this, though, more than 700 children are said to be still inside that school which we should note is run by pakistans military. What youre looking at now is some of the first video were receiving into cnn from the region obviously showing a very heavy military presence there. Were going to continue to watch this story and look for any updates. As soon as we get more information well bring it to you but a serious situation there. In fact, so we can get a bit more information lets bring in samina ahmed for the International Crisis group on the phone with me now and joins me from islamabad. Thanks so much for your time. First, what can you tell us about this attack and about how many students are still at risk under threat right now . It appears that now yes, im here. Samina, i can hear you. This is errol. Youre live right now. Please just bring me up to date. I can hear you mine, as well, yes. Bring me up to date of the status of this situation. Okay. According to hospital sources, five students are dead and some 40 injured. At the moment the military is still conducting an operation against the taliban, the Pakistani Taliban responsible for this attack. They say they are possibly around six militants that were responsible for conducting the attack and that they were wearing military uniforms when they entered the school. And, samina, give us some more information about this school specifically. Why it might be a target. We understand that this is a school actually run by the military. Reporter the military runs a number of schools. They call them the Army Public Schools. Clearly this was chosen because of the affiliation with the military and also because it was a soft target. The children are there. You think that the taliban would make a distinction between older students that they think should be killed and the younger children who should be goes a long way to say how they look at legitimate and illegitimate targets so the children ki, as as 14 because they were studying in an army run school a legitimate target for the militant. Were looking at some a brief video clip showing some of the military presence at this location. What is the latest information as far as how much how many military forces are there, how many students are still trapped inside and what the prospects are for getting them out safe. There are still apparently hundreds of students trapped in the school. They are carrying the operation on at the moment. We dont know what exact success in eliminating the terrorists and how much how many of those apparently the military is going from classroom to classroom and entered the school. We dont know what the status is in terms of the children who have managed to escape and how many hundreds of children are still being held hostage. Its an incredibly unsettling situation. I know this is still unfolding at this hour. I want to thank samina ahmed, the project director for the International Criminal group for south asia, thank you for your time. Obviously information is not much information is available right now. Samina there saying as far as she understands it according to local hospitals at least five students are dead. More than 40 injured after militants who are reportedly the Pakistani Taliban scaled the wall of this Army Public School before heading inside. We understand this is a huge operation, still under way. Still early, still developing, as soon as we get more or new information we will bring it to you. Certainly an unsettling situation in pakistan. Now we want to bring you another major story. The people of sydney, australia, coming to terms at this hour with a deadly hostage standoff that ended about 15 hours ago with the police raid. Well, now the hostagetaker is dead and soy are two of his 17 captives. The victims are 34yearold tori johnson, he was the manager of the lindt cafe where the standoff took place and 38yearold Katrina Dawson, a lawyer and mother of three. The entire city is shaken over the staboff and, of course, the deaths. Mourners have been laying flowers near the lindt cafe and a growing memorial and australian Prime Minister tony abbott visited before holing a news conference. This is the only way to describe it, appalling and ugly. Our hearts go out to the families of Katrina Dawson and tori johnson. This was the scene as they used stun grenades to bring an end to it. The hostagetaker Man Haron Monis was killed. He was a selfdescribed muslim cleric with a long criminal background. Such a bizarre day for sydney, australia. Lets cross over to Andrew Stevens who joins us from sydney with the latest. Andrew, it is so strange for Something Like this to happen in sydney but also for an individual like this whos had a number of dustups with the law to still have the freedom to do what he did. But just give us the latest information. What new information are we learning either about the man behind it all or some of the victims or some of those who are fortunate enough to escape . Reporter well, weve been learning little bits about the hostagetaker and also the two who tragically died, errol. Where were standing it moment, 150 meters down the road on the corner is the lindt cafe. Thats been taken away and the body of the hostagetaker has been in the cafe while Forensic Team has been in there for most of the day. Thats the case we understand. But details coming up. There hasnt been a lot of information yet from the hostages themselves. Now, what i can tell you is that Katrina Lawson was a mother of three young children, three children under the age of 10 years old. She was a rising young star in the legal world. Her brother was very well known in sydney legal circles as well comes from a family of lawyers here in australia and tori johnson, the manager of the lindt cafe, his parents put out a notice, just to thank the people for their prayers and their thoughts and they called their son she roaric and there have been reports unconfirmed that in the last minute or so of that hostage siege before all went tragically wrong for those two victims that he tried to wrest the shotgun away from the hostagetaker and he lost his life in the process. So details still coming out. The city is getting back to normal here, errol. I have to say that memorial, that flower memorial grows by the minute. So many people where were standing come past carrying bouquets of flowers to lay at the memorial in remembrance of what happened here a little over 19 hours ago, errol. The other aspect of this, andrew, theres been a real resistance it seeps to stereotyping. I know theres concern that the sav fay siege may raise antimuslim sentiment in australia. For our viewers play a clip of former australian Prime Minister kevin rudd and hear what he had to say about taking steps to prevent that from happening. We have half a million muslimaustralians who are fine, upstanding members of the Australian Community. During the course of today the grand mufti stood up and condemned this action by the hostagetaker and by the gunman. We had combined prayers of sydneys largest mosque involving our jewish leaders, muslim and catholic and christian leaders, as well so the australian society, we come from everywhere and people are bound together at this important moment, as well. So hearing that from the top. What about there on the ground with the people milling about . Are you getting the same kind of sentiment from the people youre talking to . Yes, a very good point actually, errol. Yes, i am. The people ive been speaking to and speaking to thousands of people today and not one person has laid the blame at the door of islam on this. Most people say if they dont have a view on who exactly this person was theyll say we think he was a lone wolf very much repeating what the authorities in sydney and around australia have been saying this was the act of a lone wolf. But i want to now bring in kaiser trap, the leader of the Islamic Friendship Association of australia and he joins us here. There has been a lot of questions about whether this sort of attack where the attacker links himself to islam would create rifts within the islamic and the nonIslamic Community in australia. How do you think or what do you think has happened here so far . Well, before i go into that id like to express our heartfelt condolences and prayers to sympathy to everyone who suffered a loss yesterday. We need to show support to the families. In the case of this particular person, when his name was released we knew who he was. Hes a person that i myself had met about four years ago when i heard about his letters to the families, to the grieving families of slain australian soldiers and were concerned about his offensive messages and we condemned his messages at that time and then after that we had a meeting with him and he became very apologetic and remorseful and tried to express to us that was not his intention. We met with him once or twice, myself and other Community Leaders after that and then we lost contact with him. Did you have worries when you lost contact with him that he was a man who could be capable of carrying out this sort of act . Look, the remorse that he showed and apologies that he made, we thought that this was a timid person, perhaps an insular person who was acting on the basis of what his mind came up with without consultation, without discussing with anybody but he did not come across as a person who was violent. At that time he was telling us he was opposed to all forms of violence. Right. Let me ask you the reaction so far from your position towards the Muslim Community in australia. Has there been any reprisals. Do you fear they could be because he has linked himself certainly not by the Islamic Community here but hes linked himself to being a muslim. We have seen some threats from extremist groups within the Broader Community but weve also seen overwhelming messages of support and overwhelming messages of support do drown out the threats. I laid a wreath of flowers on the bouquet of flowers laying that bouquet of flowers who came up to me and shook my hands and expressed their support and expressed they understand this has nothing to do with the Muslim Community. It does have nothing to do with the Muslim Community. That message is geting across. To a lot of people but there are some people who unfortunately will try to take advantage of this for their own motives and their own ends but im hoping that the saner voices, the calmer voices that are coming out speaking out, the social networking efforts. From leaders of all members of the community too. Right across the board in australia. Now, the Muslim Community has come out in force in condemnation of what this man has did. Im yet to see one person expressing any form of support to the perpetrator. All ive seen from my community is prayers for the victims, prayers for fair families, sympathy and support and condolences including it myself. Several prayer vigils were held around the country and heart felt efforts from the community to provide support and sympathy as much as possible. Im afraid we have to leave it this, keysar. Theres been a reaching out from both sides of the community. That shows the resilience of Australian Community and never allow the actions of one crazed person to divide us. Keysar, thank you very much. Keysar trad from the Islamic Friendship Association of australia. I have speaking to many. There has not been one suggestion that this was religiously motivated and that there was a it would cause a rift in this Australian Community. Weve heard that certainly from the political leaders right across the spectrum, as well. By all accounts it seems as though the perpetrator was just a very disturbed individual, Andrew Stevens live for us where its just approaching 7 15 in the evening in sydney, australia. Andrew, thanks. We will have more of the worlds biggest stories for you after this short break. Stay with us here on cnn. woont more than three dozen wounded after a gunman or multiple gunman i should say stormed a school in pakistan taking place in peshmerga. Police sources say at least six terrorists entered the school after scaling its walls. Paramilitary forces entered the area and are apparently conducting a security sweep at this moment. More than 700 children, though, could still be inside the school which is run by pakistans military. Certainly a reason why this is such an important thing for us to keep our eyes on. Well connect with cnn producer soph sophia. What about the status of the students and how many victims there are at this early stage. At this moment weve just received information that the death toll has risen to around 20 people which includes 17 children and teachers. At the moment the operation is still under way. This attack started at around quarter to 12 00 at this morning in peshmerga which is as you said in pakistan. None so large a scale. Around children from primary age students to up to 18. You know, this age, we have been told by sources in the taliban they were instructed the attackers were instructed to leave children who were underage but to attack and look out for kids who had reached puberty. So most of the children who have come out of the school who are injured are boys and this operation is still under way with par are military troops cordoning off the area. Errol. Sophia, tell me what else i. D. I understand its the pakistans taliban behind this providing or suggesting why theyre deciding to hit a target like this at a time like this. Whats the motivation here . Well, their reasoning is that this is a reaction to the operation, the military operation that is currently ongoing in north what sir tan in the north of pakistan which has been ongoing since july of this year, so that is what is specifically said in the statement. There hasnt been a militant attack in a couple of weeks in pakistan so this is quite large and they feel in the major cities in a major operation which has occurred in the city of peshmerga. So we could characterize this as a retaliatory attack against the military for what theyre doing in the waziristan region. What about as far as how many Pakistani Taliban might be as part of this operation and if the military feels as if they have the resources they need. You assume they would. To protect the children who were left. Well, at the moment were not we have been told by a statement that was released by the Pakistani Taliban that six militants went into the school and they were all suicide bombers. We have heard explosions coming from the school. The military has released a statement that an evacuation is under way. The school itself is within a military compound so the children are mostly children of military officials, the school itself is called Army Public School. They are all children who have connections to the military of some sort so like you said it is definitely a retaliatory attack but for the time being because the area is being cordoned off were not getting much information as to what is going on but all we know the operation within the Army Public School is still under way. 500 to 600 children trapped inside. I want to let you go so you can gather more information. The fact that the Pakistani Taliban were able to head to an army school essentially. Scale a fence and head inside and kill students, i mean, this is a pretty brazen and stunning move by the Pakistani Taliban. Yes, definitely. I mean its a militant attack. Its a terrorist attack. They had there had been a lot of other staff that had been happening in the country such as protest, politically motivated protests which had moved the attention of the public away from what the militants were up to so in fact, these attack s usually are brazen, usually are notorious in being very out hello. I can still hear you but thanks so much for getting us up to speed on the breaking story. Sophia saifi in slbtd updating us on the death toll creeping upward of 20 including 17 teachers and students at this Army Public School in peshmerga. We will continue to follow developments. Its still an unfolding situation. Hundreds of students at this hour being held captive. Its presumed by the Pakistani Taliban at an Army Public School. At a location that is technically within the bounds of military space so well continue to follow this breaking story and bring you updates as they become available here on cnn. 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