An attack by suspected Taliban militants on a university in
north-west Pakistan has killed at least 19 people and
injured 50.
Nearly three hours after the attack began, an army official
said firing had stopped but troops were searching Bacha
Khan University campus in Charsadda.
The army said four attackers had been killed as the Taliban
reported four of its suicide attackers were involved.
The Taliban killed 130 students at a school in nearby
Peshawar in 2014.
Charsadda is about 50km (30 miles) from the city.
Follow latest updates
Wednesday's attackers struck at around 09:30 local time
(04:30 GMT), reportedly climbing over the back wall, where
a university guesthouse is located.
Intense gunfire and explosions were heard as security
guards fought the attackers.
"I personally heard two explosions near hostel number one,"
an unidentified eyewitness told Pakistan's Geo TV.
"We don't know if they were suicide bombers or grenades. I
personally saw two explosions and smoke was rising."
Students and staff ran to find cover in toilets and
examination halls.
By the time police and Pakistani army commandos had
arrived, several students and staff members were dead and
dozens of others wounded.
Most of the people on campus have now been evacuated.
Nineteen bodies were taken to a local mortuary.
A Taliban spokesman told AFP news agency the attack was
in response to a military offensive against militant strongholds.
An assistant professor at the university, Dr Shakoor, told the
BBC he had turned back from the main gate of the campus
after being told it was under attack.
Most of the students and members of the faculty would
probably still not have arrived when the attack started, he said.
He saw people coming out through the main gate,
apparently because the attackers had entered the campus
from the back.
The university is located in an open area some distance
east of Charsadda town, surrounded by open agricultural
fields, and is therefore a soft target, the BBC's Ilyas Khan
reports.
Bacha Khan is a new university, founded in 2012, its website says.
Just days ago, some schools in Peshawar were closed by
the authorities amid reports that militants were planning an
attack.
0 comments:
Post a Comment