Pakistan. A school. Gunmen have stormed the school in peshawar. At least 20 people dead, including 17 children. This is according to the Health Minister of pakistan. Lets get to amanisha with the story. Reporter this is turning out to be a horrific attack. Taliban has claimed responsibility saying it sent in six attackers with suicide vests. Those attackers were given orders to target anyone in that school who seemed like they might be, you know, reaching puberty and up. They were supposed to give minors safe passage and free range to target military personnel. Horrendous details on this. Anything between 500 and 700 students still stuck in the school. It is not clear if it is a hostage situation. To repeat the number of fatalities. The number just rose sharply. We initially heard 4 and now 20 of those now dead. Two teachers and one attacker. Police have confirmed to our office in islamabad, there is a military operation under way. Gunfire was heard a short time ago. It has now ceased. The injured are taken to the Lady Reading Hospital in pakistans north. It is an area close to the afghan border. That according to a lot of reports on twitter and cnn hasnt confirmed this, you can see the tweets going out. That hospital saying it is running short on blood and asking for blood donations. Turning out to be a horrendous attack. Manisha tank. Thank you for following the latest. Sydney remains on high alert after the most serious act of terrorism on australian soil in almost 40 years. A lone wolf gunman taking 17 hostages in the lindt cafe in the citys Central Business district. Holding them hostage for 16 hours. Now some of the hostages escaped before finally police moved in with stun grenades. An entire city in shock. The hostage taker is a muslim cleric with a long criminal record named Man Haron Monis. Overnight, Prime Minister tony abbott addressed concerns about the gunman. Its pretty obvious that the perpetrator was a deeply disturbed individual, a long history of crime, a long history of mental instability and infatuation with extremism. Two hostage fatalities. They are store manager johnson and mother of three, Katrina Dawson. This floral memorial is outside of the siege. Cnns Andrew Stevens has more. Reporter the memorial continues to grow. Remember happened here a few short hours ago. It has been a traumatic 34 hours for sydney. There was a 16hour siege which ended with two dead sydney residents and the gunman dying in the melee. It is shock, but also resilience here, john. The people have seen what happened last night. They lived through it because the attack actually occurred right next to one of the Main Television broadcasters of australia and it could train its cameras to let australians in on what was going on. A very traumatic event as i say. I have spoken to a lot of people today. They are shocked and relieved. At one stage, this could have been a religious fundamentalist with links to isis perpetratoin this attack. This was not the case. This was a lone wolf gunman which brings relief, but the vigilance is more than it was, john. Sydneyites are going about the business. Will this change how your life goes on and they say no. They will watch closer. What are we learning about the two hostages who died and how they died, andrew . Reporter the details are very sketchy. None of the reports has been confirmed. We have not heard much from the hostages at all, john, which is unusual given social media is alive and well across australia. What we know, tori johnson was the manager, described as a hero. There is suggestions that he tried to take the gun from the hostage taker. The hostage taker may have been dozing and johnson grappled with him to get control of the gun. It went tragically wrong. Johnson died in the process. Those shots triggered the police response. They were in within seconds with flash grenades and another hostage died. That was kate dawson. She is a mother of three children. All of them under the age of 10 years. A tragic story. She was a rising young star in australias legal circles. She had gone in there to have a coffee with a pregnant friend of hers. One report saying she died trying to protect her pregnant friend. Tragic stories emerging over the next couple of days. I know that entire nation and world grieves alongside. Andrew stevens, thanks. New information about the sydney gunman and the long criminal past. Officials say he was out on bail for a Sexual Assault committed 12 years ago. He was charged as accessory in the murder of his wife and charged with writing cruel letters to the families of australian troops. Mike baird says this man should not have been on the streets. Outraged that this guy was on the streets. We are. We need to understand why he was. We need to understand why he wasnt picked up and we will work closely with the federal authorities together with their agencies to ensure what we can do better. We need to understand the circumstances here. Cnns Atika Shubert is live in london with the latest details and the gunmans shocking past. This is someone, atika, known to authorities and they must have known that he could be quite a radical as they were trying to negotiate with him during the siege. Reporter they knew he was a very erratic person. They had known the criminal record he had sending the letters of the families of soldiers who died in afghanistan and charged as accessory of his wifes murder and Sexual Assault dating back to 2002. He had a record, not necessarily that tipped off anybody worried about a terror attack. That seems to be where he fell through the cracks. Somebody erratic and somebody always seeking attention. He chained himself to Parliament Several times in the protests. What he was really seeking was the publicity. That was something that was constantly being denied to him over the course of the siege. He was demanding live interviews to be aired. They were not making it to air. He had a long criminal past, but nothing to indicate terrorism links. Bigger terrorism links. Reporter i would say bigger terrorism links. What he did, he made conflicting statements on social media. One minute he was a peace activist and the next pledges allegiance to isis. He did not have any links to any particular organization. Thank you, atika. We will take a look at the sydney gunman and if he was acting alone. What inspired him . Could this be a bigger trend . And a manhunt is underway in pennsylvania for a former u. S. Marine suspected of killing six people, including his exwife. He is considered armed and dangerous. He is on the loose. Details ahead. Nineteen years ago, we thought, wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad . So we gave people the power of the review. And now angies list is revolutionizing local service again. You can easily buy and Schedule Services from toprated providers. Conveniently stay up to date on progress. And effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our angies list app. Visit angieslist. Com today. Sydney beginning to recover this morning from mondays 16hour hostage siege. That ending with three deaths, including the gunman. Questions swirling about the mans connections to islam and long criminal record. For answers, we turn to peter newman. He is the director of the International Center for the study of radicalization. Welcome to the program. A selfstyled cleric. He pledged allegiance to isis recently and goes on the hostage spree. Could Law Enforcement have seen this coming . As with a lot of socalled lone wolves, he has been active in the extremists scene in sydney. He was known to local police and media because he had a high profile. Of course, it is one thing to be known to local police and another thing for police to know you are planning a violent action. He was on the radar screen of the security forces. He would have been one of probably hundreds that are casually watching. Probably they are missing that one indicator that told them he is about to strike. Professor, there are some who suggest this man is unhinged. This man was deranged. This man had a checkered and criminal past. No ties systematic ties to that past. Maybe people on the fringes or susceptible to that isis message. Yes. There have been studies about lone wolves. People who act without any planning or direction from a terrorist organization. They found that there is a significantly higher percentage of people with mental issues. This kind of acting on your own being a little bit unhinged lends itself to that activity. We know isis, two months ago, issued a statement precisely encouraging these kinds of actions. It fits together. This is something that isis has tried to they can do so much more damage if they can inspire lone wolves around the world frankly. Do you think this man was responding to that isis call of just a couple of months ago . It could have been because since that call two months ago, we have seen a number of attempted actions around the world in britain and switzerland and australia. So i dont think this will be the last action like this, unfortunately. Is there any way to stop this, professor . Well, it is more difficult for the police because if you have a sophisticated complex involving a lot of people, they have a lot of time they spend planning and talking about it so police can detect it. Lone wolves is difficult. These people are known to police. These people, although lone wolves, they are not entirely on their own all the time. They often talk to other people. It is more difficult. You have to pay more attention. It is possible to detect them. Was this man, does it seem to you, he is looking for validation and part of something bigger. He demanded an isis flag. He was really using media to try to get out and make more discussion about himself. Did he want more attention for himself or validation from the bigger Terrorism Community or just unhinged . It could be. I am not a psychologist. There is a quest for significance. Sometimes people do things simply to be recognized. For other people to give them recognition and to become significant themselves. Without knowing the details of this case, it seems like we were dealing with someone who was trying to be an important person and doing this to perhaps get the recognition that he never got before. Professor peter newman, thank you for being with us. 17 minutes at the hour. An iraq war veteran accused of killing six people and now there is an intense manhunt underway. Police are asking for the publics help. Thats just ahead. All right. The hunt is on for iraq war vet suspected of killing his exwife and five former in laws. Officers are scouring doyl doylestown, pennsylvania where he was spotted. A rampage in three philadelphia suburbs. He killed his exwife, her mother, her grandmother and brotherinlaw and 14yearold daughter. Bradley Michael Stone did not kill his two daughters. Stone is considered armed and dangerous. Suffers from post Traumatic Stress syndrome. We are reaching out to the public to see if anyone has sighted him. We do not know where he is. We do not have vehicle information. We recovered his vehicle and his personal cell phone. We do not have information about how he might be traveling. 21 minutes after the hour. Sony pictures is trying to reassure employees that the studio will survive this huge cyber attack that exposed thousands of sensitive documents, including emails and film scripts and Social Security numbers. At two meetings, the ceo and co chair thanked staff for keeping the studio going and promised they will recover. Standing by is cnns will ripley in tokyo. Will, this is just a mess. Reporter it is, john. We have been reaching out to sonys Parent Company in tokyo for the past several days. I was able to reach their spokesperson today. He acknowledged this is a very difficult time for the company. He said that most of the investigation into the hack is happening in the United States. He did acknowledge the growing speculation here in japan and around the world that north korea may have played a major role in this hack in some capacity. He did say that the investigation is ongoing. It is all that sony is willing to go on the record with right now. If you think about this, there are a lot of implications. Sony is a japanese company. Japan is a close neighbor of north korea. A country that routinely launched projectiles in the sea of japan and that has channels through business ties. Influence that may have something to do with the interview is not releasing at all here in japan. You wont find it in theaters. That decision was made before the humiliating hacking cyber attack. That is interesting. I did not know that. That film will not be released in japan. It will here in the United States. Lawyers for sony are telling Media Companies dont publish this data that has been stolen from sony. Reporter they are. Thats a threat that is coming from media lawyers that a lot of experts say would be difficult to enforce. Once the information is out there in the public domain, as you know and our cnn legal experts know, it is there. Media Networks Like cnn and others report on it. You talk about the ethics of releasing certain things like Social Security numbers and movie scripts. That is something sony is struggling to deal with. One analyst in tokyo says this signs a light on lax cyber security. You think sony would be able to protect against this kind of thing. Will ripley, thank you. We will send you a dvd of the interview since you cannot see it in theaters there. The senate has confirmed vivek murthy as the next Surgeon General of the United States. His nomination has been stalled for nearly a year after comments of stricter gun laws. The 37yearold is committed to keeping americans safe. He said dr. Murthy is the huge asset in the battle of ebola. An interesting turn in the bill cosby story. His wife camille is speaking out in the claims of the women stating they were sexually assaulted or drugged by cosby. She said a different man has been portrayed in the media in the last two months. It is the portrait of the man i do not know. She said it is a portrait of a man who many in the media have given a pass. She also compared the story to what is going on at uva and rolling stone. Bill cosby has denied these accusations. Russias economy headed for a crash. Early today the central bank raised key Interest Rates for the sixth time this year. Look at this. Interest rates now 17 in russia. Thats helping to boost the currency the ruble is in a freefall. It is down 50 against the dollar this year. Think of that. The currency has been cut in half. Collapsing oil prices and impact of the western sanctions are driving up inflation. It costs more to buy a loaf of bread and the weak ruble makes it hard for companies to pay creditors. That puts it at risk for default. The bank of russia warns of a deep recession next year. A critical situation for Vladimir Putin who has remarkably high Approval Ratings. That could change if the economy spirals toward disaster. When you look at its stock market and currency market and inflation and the plight of every day people. Stay tuned to this. This has huge geo political implications. 26 minutes after the hour. We are following a horrific story from pakistan. A deadly attack on a school there. A barbaric attack. A live report ahead. And the latest on the investigation into the siege at the cafe in sydney. How the events unfolded and what we are learning new this morning about the gunman. We will have a live report. X. People who know me, they say i never thought you would quit. but chantix helped me do it. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. It gave me the power to overcome the urge to smoke. Some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. Some people had seizures while taking chantix. If you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of Mental Health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix or history of seizures. Don take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be lifethreatening. Tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, or if you develop new or worse symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. Im a nonsmoker, that feels amazing. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Breaking news. A school under attack in pakistan. Dozens killed, including children. A terrifying developing story. We will have the latest for you in moments. Terrifying moments in sydney. Two hostages killed after a gunman takes several people hostage. What we are learning about the victims this morning and the gunmans criminal past. Welcome back to early start. Im john berman. Im christine romans. First, breaking news we are following. A deadly attack on a school in pakistan. Gunmen stormed the school in pakistan. 84 people now dead. Including children. I want to get to manisha tank. Manisha, this is a the schoa sc run by the pakistan military. Reporter shockingly high number of fatalities. 84. There are reports surfacing that it may be more than that. We are doing our best to check on these numbers. We also understand that two of the attackers are now dead. One apparently blew himself up. The other was killed by paramilitary forces. This is the information we have from the chief minister of the province of peshawar is situated. The city in the north of pakistan. It is an area. We have seen a lot of intensification in the operations of Pakistani Taliban. The taliban in a chilling statement, they made a phone call and claimed responsibility for the horrific attack on the school. They said that they had ordered six of their attackers to go in and suit up in suicide vests and armed to go into the school and to target children who might be from the age at which they are reaching puberty and upwards of age. They wanted to target personnel. This school is within a military compound. As you imagine, the military reaction very swift. Paramilitary operation is ongoing. The military said a rescue operation is under way. Perhaps a light in the darkness here is some students and staff have been evacuated. At this stage, it is unclear how many children and staff may be still stuck in that school. Now if we are understanding that two of the attackers are now dead, that leaves four. We know they have gone in with suicide vests. Im sure it is a very, very tense situation that is unfolding. The chief minister confirming on the latest numbers and developments. We can understand now this is a hostage crisis. Manisha, help me understand. Targeting children. Was this meant to send a message to the military . To send a message to the pakistani public . Targeting children. Reporter christine, it is shocking. It is shocking to all of us all over the world. You know, Pakistani Taliban have made no bones about the fact they were going to target whoever they needed to target. This is a big reaction and a retail ation for a major operation by the pakistani military. There were peace talks going on. But these seized up six months ago. These attacks are more and more audacious. A year ago, an attack on a church in peshawar. That was another shocking attack. Large number of fatalities there. We have seen more and more bombings and the police and military said more of the potential bombings have been foiled in peshawar. The action by this group has worsened. It has become more frightening and now this. For many in pakistan, this really has taken it to new levels. Manisha, while you have been speaking, officials have given a new fatality number. At least 95 killed in the Taliban Attack on the pakistan school. That coming from officials in pakistan. We know you will chase with your sources and try to figure out what is happening and how many children managed to be free. We will continue to follow that all morning. Unbelievable the scope of depravity. The number of dead. 95. That goes up. That goes down. We are trying to keep track of it. This was a barbaric attack targeting kids for just going to school. Here is other news coming from sydney. That city is on high alert after the most serious act of terrorism on australian soil in almost 40 years. A gunman who appeared to be acting alone took 17 hostages in a lindt cafe in the Central Business district. He held them for more than 16 hours. The gunman and two hostages were killed. An entire city is in shock this morning. The hostage taker has been identified as a self proclaimed muslim cleric with a checkered criminal past. His name is Man Haron Monis. Lets hear more from Prime Minister tony abbott. The perpetrator is a disturbing individual with a long history of crime and mental instability and infatuation with extremi extremism. It is interesting the isil occult seems to attract people like that. The two victims are lawyer Katrina Dawson and the lindt store manager tori johnson. There is a floral memorial for the victims. We have the latest from Andrew Stevens. The young barrister and mother of three is heart breaking and the store manager. What can you tell us about them . Reporter he was the store manager there. His parents put out a tribute to them praising their beloved tori. There has been outpouring to johnson and both of them because they are the innocent victims here in sydney. It has shocked the city. There is a massive flower memorial. So many people walking past carrying bunches of flowers to pay respects to what happened in that hostage crisis. Now, it looks like and we cannot confirm this, there are still no details and police have not talked about it. It looks like tori johnson, the manager of the lindt cafe and one of the victims there, actually tried to wrestle the gun from the gunman. Shots were fired inside the lindt cafe and that is what triggered the police response. The police were indicating they were prepared to sit it out for some time. Perhaps into today, the Daylight Hours or longer. Shots were fired inside the cafe. The Police Responded immediately and went in hard in numbers with stun grenades and flash grenades. In the course of freeing the hostages, one hostage died, Katrina Dawson, as you say, mother of three Young Children all under the age of 10 years old. A rising star in australias legal circles. She died during the evacuation of the hostages. Hostages had been managing to get out. When the gunshots were first heard, it looks like a small group of hostages did manage to get out ahead of the police. It is a very quick reaction. It happened very, very quickly. Situation turned dramatically. The gunman was shot and killed, we assume by police, and the two fatalities of the bystanders. Sydney is coming out in force to pay respects to people for their bravery and recognize the trauma the city is going through. Andrew, thank you. You think about boston and new york and place where is these sorts of things happen and how the whole city stops. They come together after the fact. That is happening in sydney. There is new information about the sydney gunman and his checkered criminal past. Australian Officials Say that man, Man Haron Monis was out on bail for a Sexual Assault committed 12 years ago. He had been charged as accessory in the murder of his wife and pleaded guilty to writing cruel letters to the families of australia troops. Monis should not have been on the streets according to premier mike baird. We are all outraged that this guy was on the streets. We are. We need to understand why it was. We need to understand why he wasnt picked up and we are working closely with the federal authorities together with their agencies to ensure what we can do better. We need to understand the circumstances here. The community has every right to feel upset. Im incredibly upset and outraged. What we need to do is ensure everything is done to learn from this. Can we do it better . Cnns Atika Shubert is live from london with the details on the gunmans checkered past. Atika, perhaps this should have been a warning sign to authorities. Reporter exactly. He was writing the harassing letters between 2007 and 2009 to the families of australian soldiers who died. That was really when he first came to light in the criminal way and he was found guilty of that and sentenced to 300 hours of community service. He pled guilty to that. He was charged as accessory to the murder of his former wife. He was released on bail in that case. Put him out on bail and still in jail and those innocent victims, you know, have died. They should have just locked him up and thrown the key away. Reporter and this is what many are asking. Why was he out in the streets . Was there any indication that he would take this violent behavior and direct it toward society. Thats what police and investigators are looking at now, john. Those are the questions they are asking in australia today and the days ahead. Atika shubert, thank you. Intense manhunt underway for a man accused of killing his exwife and several of her family members. What police are saying next. And bill cosbys wife is breaking her silence. Speaking out now about the Sexual Assault allegations that are piling up against her husband. Stay with us. [ rob ] we werent always the most adventurous couple. Once we kept the lights on. But then we started using ky yours mine. Yeah, we were nervous to try it. Theres an amazing sensation for her. Amazing. This one feels fantastic for me. And combined. Ohh, its a completely new sensation for us both. Its opened a whole new door for us. Ive come to clean your pool. But we dont have a pool. Ill come in anyway. Next week im going to be a maid. [ female announcer ] ky yours mine. His excites. Hers delights. Together feel them ignite. Keep life sexy. The hunt is on this morning for iraq war veteran suspected of killing his exwife and five former in laws. Officers are scouring doylestown, pennsylvania. That is where bradley Michael Stone was spotted on a rampage on monday. Police say the 35yearold killed his exwife, her mother, grandmother and sister as well as his brotherinlaw and a 14yearold daughter. Bradley did not kill his two daughters living with his estranged wife. He suffers from post Traumatic Stress syndrome. We are reaching out to the public to see if anyone has sights on him. We do not have vehicle information. We actually have his vehicle and personal cell phone. We do not have information on how he may be traveling. Falling oil prices and western sanctions hurting the economy in russia. The ruble has been in a freefall. The central bank there raised Interest Rates to 17 . Big potential ramifications around the world. Cnns Matthew Chance joins us from russia. Matthew, any chance russia to avert a financial disaster . Reporter it is trying as best as it can. This dramatic rate increase overnight. It was a meeting called for 1 00 in the morning here local time. Managed a 6. 5 increase on the Interest Rates. You can imagine that happening in the u. S. Mortgage payments and car repayments. It will have an absolutely devastating effect on peoples ability to live their lives and pay for their cost of living. The hope was that it would, you know, try to stem any panic and encourage people to keep savings in rubles. It doesnt tackle the issues affecting the russian currency. The russian ruble has been dragged down. You have the International Sanctions from the u. S. And eu having an impact on the russian economy now. It is all these things that have combined to make the currenkru crisis so deep for the government. Vladimir putins rating is still high. The russian people must feel the bite of this. Every time you go to buy a loaf of bread, it costs more than the week before. Why is putins Approval Rating so high if people are starting to feel this . Reporter it is a good question. We are obviously going to be watching closely to see what happens to his Approval Ratings. You know, you can bet he is watching closely as well. There are some in the region of 85 of Approval Rating. We are just at the start now of what could be a really damaging economic crisis. So, it is difficult to see how he is going to manage to keep Approval Ratings up there. We will see. He will be looking over his shoulder as well. It is a big and interesting story. A currency of the country fall in half against the dollar in a short period of time. That spells trouble. Thanks, Matthew Chance. We will keep watching on that. A remarkable story. 47 minutes after the hour. Secretary of state john kerry meeting with palestinian leaders today. What israel wants the United States to do about plans for statehood. Thats next. Secretary of state john kerry engaged in shuttle diplomacy this week trying to bring accord to israeli and palestinian leaders. He met with Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu in rome yesterday. Today he meets with others in paris. We have cnns Nic Robertson with the latest. Nic, why the sudden burst of activity . Reporter what we are expecting from the palestinian Prime Minister and secretary of state and chief negotiator in a few hours. They are going to move to put a proposal to the United NationsSecurity Council that will state that they want to have their state, a palestinian state recognized along the 1967 borders that they will use language in that draft resolution which says that the Israeli Occupying force should be removed from that state within a specified time. Time duration expected to be a couple of years. They want East Jerusalem the capital and they want right of return for palestinian refugees. Now Benjamin Netanyahu, when he met with secretary kerry yesterday in rome, was asked when he came out of the meeting did you get any assurances from secretary kerry that the United States would veto that if it goes to a vote at United NationsSecurity Council, which is expected which is planned for tomorrow and netanyahu didnt really answer that question. What he did say was that he was heard very clearly by john kerry and his position is and israels position is it rejects this move. He says this will make the region less stable and be less dangerous for israel. He said israel will use its force to push back. He expects the United States to veto this. The senate has confirmed dr. Vivek murthy as the Surgeon General of the United States. His nomination was stalled for a year after he made comments of stricter gun laws. The president said the 37yearold is committed to keep americans safe. He said he will be a huge asset in the battle of ebola. Bill cosbys wife camille speaking out making her first Public Comments in the wake of claims of almost two dozen women that they were drugged, raped or sexually assaulted over decades. She accuses the media of giving a pass. Saying a different man is portrayed in the media. It is a portrait of a man i do not know. It is a portrait painted by those in the media. The parents of those children killed in the sandy hook incident have now followed a wrongful death suit against bushmaster. The gun adam lanza used in the rampage. Attorneys for the families say it is not the kind of gun used in home defense or hunting. It should not have been sold to nancy lanza. 53 minutes past the hour. If you think you are sick of Airline Baggage fees, wait until you find out how Much Airlines are raking in from the baggage fees. Hint, there is a lot of zeros. We will have an early start on your money next. Lets get an early start on your money. U. S. Stock futures barely budging. This is a wild few weeks. Yesterday, the dow shot up more than 100 points at the bell before reversing and closing down 100 points. Crude oil moving lower. Look at that chart. No down to 54 . The lowest in five years. The prices are in a tail spin. They cannot find a floor. Global demand is weakening. Econ 101, lower prices. Gas prices sliding. The average price for a gallon of regular, 2. 53. It is putting an extra 100 in your pockets every month. 13 states have stations selling gas under 2. More stations are expected to join that trend this week. Airline bag fees are moving up. All together, the 27 u. S. Carriers took in almost 1 billion in package fees last quarter. That is according to the department of transportation. That is up 9 from a year ago. Almost every carrier now charges for checked bags. Even jetblue. One of the last holdouts. Some are charging for the overhead bin space. And shoes. And gas prices are plummeting. You would think they are cutting ticket prices. No. On that note, early start continues right now. Breaking news. A school under attack. Dozens and dozens are dead this morning. A majority seem to be children. We will have the latest in moments. Sydney on alert this morning. A day after a madman held 17 people hostage in a cafe, two of the hostages and gunman are now dead. Is australia or the u. S. At risk for more attacks like this . Im christine romans. Welcome to early start. Im john berman. It is tuesday morning. Breaking news out of pakistan. A horrific deadly attack on a school there. Gunmen, apparently the Pakistani Taliban stormed a school in peshawar. At least 84 people now reported dead. Many of them children. Dozens and dozens injured. I want to get to manisha tank who is following the story for us. It is a barbaric attack killing students at school for simply getting an education. Reporter this is taking place and an ongoing situation at the Army Public School within a military compound in the city of peshawar. We are now getting bonechilling details on what is going on their right now. I can confirm that 84 are dead. Two of the attackers also dead. We dont know if that is included in the figure of 84. I can tell you one attacker blew himself up. The other killed by military. We have also seen, this is the bonechilling element of this, we have seen the statements coming from Pakistani Taliban which claimed responsibility putting out a statement as to why they did this. This is retailation for a military offensive against Pakistani Taliban to clamp down on opat