A foiled Taliban attack against police official Chaudhry Aslam ended in the deaths of six police guards, two adult civilians and one child.

Monday morning’s suicide car bombing happened in Aslam’s neighborhood, located in the Defense Housing Authority area of Karachi, Pakistan. The blast woke residents of the gated community.

“My daughter was preparing to go to school when all of a sudden the explosion occurred,” Mohammad Imran, one of Mr. Aslam’s neighbors, said to Reuters. “My daughter started crying, and I ran out of house to see what has happened. I saw a cloud of smoke rising in the sky. Our children are traumatized. Our families are disturbed. There is no security.”

Aslam seemed unfazed by the attacks.

“I did not know that these terrorists were such cowards that they would attack sleeping children,” Aslam said to news networks via the New York Times. “I will not spare them,” he said.

Despite the death of the children, Taliban members showed no signs of remorse. Claiming that Aslam was responsible for the killings and arrests of many of their supporters, they vowed to continue the attacks.

“We will attack other police officials as well who are taking action against our people,” said Taliban member and spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, to Reuters.