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Pakistan university attack: Gunmen kill professor and student after storming campus near Peshawar
Pakistan university attack: Gunmen kill eight people including students after storming campus near Peshawar
(35 minutes later)
Gunmen have stormed a university in northwestern Pakistan, killing a professor and a student, and wounding at least five others.
At least eight people have been killed and many others wounded after a group of militants attacked a university in Pakistan.
Police said two gunmen have been killed but other attackers are believed to be on the second and third floors of campus buildings at Bacha Khan University and firing is still going on.
Security forces are still believed to be battling the gunmen inside the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir said police believed that most of the students had been rescued but several gunmen remained at large inside the university.
Four of the gunmen have reportedly been killed by security forces and the remaining militants – it is not known how many there were in total – have been contained to two blocks inside the university.
Earlier, the police and army were exchanging gunfire with the attackers and several explosions were heard from the area of the university in the town of Charsadda, located some 21 miles outside the city of Peshawar.
Police said the militants managed to enter the university buildings on Wednesday morning after scaling the walls of the university.
The militants, using the cover of thick, wintry fog, scaled the walls of the university before entering buildings and opening fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels, police said.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
“All students have been evacuated from the hostels, but militants are still hiding in different parts of the university and some students and staff are stuck inside,”Mr Wazir said.
Of the deaths, at least three are believed to be students, said Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir. Earlier reports said that a professor had also been killed.
He said it was unclear how many gunmen were involved.
“All students have been evacuated from the hostels, but militants are still hiding in different parts of the university and some students and staff are stuck inside,” he said.
The Pakistani military's media wing said the army had cordoned off the university with the militants inside and were carrying out air surveillance.
Soldiers could be seen entering the campus as ambulances lined up outside the main gate, ready to tend to the injured.
Television footage showed soldiers entering the campus as ambulances lined up outside the main gate and anxious parents consoled each other.
Shabir Khan, a lecturer, was about to leave the hostel for the English department when the firing began.
“Most of the students and staff were in classes when the firing began.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“I have no idea about what’s going on but I heard one security official talking on the phone to someone and said many people had been killed and injured,” said Mr Khan.
Pakistan, which has suffered from years of militant violence, has killed and arrested hundreds of suspected militants under a major crackdown launched after a massacre of 134 school children in December 2014 in the northwest.
The Bacha Khan University is named after the founder of a liberal, anti-Taliban political party. The party has in the past been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban for its anti-militant policies.
The Bacha Khan University is named after the founder of a liberal, anti-Taliban political party. Pakistani Taliban have in the past targeted the party for its anti-militant policies.
Following the massacre of 134 school children in December 2014 in Peshawar, carried out by gunmen believed to be linked to the Pakistani Taliban, hundreds of suspected militants have been killed and arrested in a major crackdown.
The 2014 school attack by six gunmen believed linked to the Pakistani Taliban hit a raw nerve in Pakistan and was seen as having hardened Pakistan's resolve to fight jihadist militants along its lawless border with Afghanistan.
Additional reporting by agencies
Vice Chancellor Fazal Rahim told reporters that the Bacha Khan University teaches over 3,000 students and hosted an additional 600 visitors on Wednesday for a poetry recital.
Shabir Khan, a lecturer in the English department, said he was about to leave the hostel for the department when firing began.
“Most of the students and staff were in classes when the firing began,” Khan said. “I have no idea about what's going on but I heard one security official talking on the phone to someone and said many people had been killed and injured.”
