BRADFORD paused last night for a candlelit vigil to remember the children killed in the Taliban atrocity which saw gunmen run amok in Pakistan school.

Organisers said the vigil was an opportunity for Bradford citizens to pay respects to the children and their teachers who died when attackers stormed the army school in Peshawar, with prayers said and candles distributed among the hundreds who gathered outside City Hall.

But a ten metre long memorial scroll is also being planned, which will carry personal messages gathered on the streets and in the mosques of Bradford, to be delivered to the school where it is hoped it will become a permanent symbol of Bradford's solidarity with the Muslims who suffered at the hands of the terrorist gang which staged the attack.

The attack left 141 people dead, including 132 children and some escaped only by pretending to be dead already as the attackers worked their way through the school before being killed in a confrontation with the Pakistani military.

Last night's event was organised as a community statement, said organiser Arshad Ali, who was keen to avoid any political involvement in the vigil.

Mr Ali told the Telegraph and Argus: "Hopefully we will send a clear message that we stand with the innocent people and against this terror in the name of Islam.

"They don't hold the beliefs that we hold and we will have nothing to do with any of them," he said.

The vigil was supported mainly by the Muslim community, with people of all ages lighting candles to remember the dead.

Work is now to start on the scroll, which will be one one metre wide fabric: "This will be permanent record of the community's messages and went it to be treasured," said Mr Ali.

"We will take it around Bradford and get individuals, on the streets and in the mosques, to add their messages then get someone with family in that area to deliver it on our behalf and with our good wishes."

Similar vigils have been held by other communities in the UK as they have struggled to come to terms with the brutality of the attack against children and teachers who could do nothing to defend themselves.

A leaflet handed to those who gathered in City Park last night described the killings as a "holocaust".

Meanwhile the Taliban has described the attack as being justified and warned civilians to distance themselves from all military institutions.

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