A CANDLELIGHT vigil has taken place in East Lancashire tonight to remember of the victims of the Taliban attack in Peshawar, which killed at least 135 people died.

It has been organised by Blackburn councillor Shaukat Hussain, and will be held outside the town hall from 8pm. Funerals started to be held yesterday for those who died, mostly children.

Coun Hussain said: “Words are not enough to condemn the barbaric attack on the Fauji Foundation school in Peshawar. I want to express my heartfelt condolences on the horrific tragedy engulfing Peshawar.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the parents and families whose lives have forever been changed by this cruel act of barbarism.

“This tragic event should also come as a lesson to those who have contemplated negotiations with the Taliban.

“The government must hunt down these barbarians across Pakistan and eliminate them without mercy.

“I will contact my local MP, Jack Straw, and ask him to call on the British government to do more to support and strengthen Pakistani institutions in their continued and challenged fight against terrorism as it was the West’s war on terror, that brought the Taliban and extremists to Pakistan in the first place.”

Fellow Blackburn councillor Imtiaz AliI condemned the attack as “a ‘national tragedy unleashed by savages.” And Lancashire MEP and Chair of the European Parliament Friends of Pakistan Group, Sajjad Karim MEP, also denounced the attack. in a speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.