Summary CHARSADDA- Six fully equipped terrorists stormed a public university.
Dunya News Report (Humaira Sajid)
CHARSADDA- Six fully equipped terrorists stormed a public university approximately 15 kilometers from Charsadda main, campus of Bacha Khan University, on Wednesday morning, killing 20 people and leaving scores of people injured, Dunya News reported.
The equipped gunmen surrounded the university building from three directions and opened fire on students and faculty who had gathered at the university to commemorate the death anniversary of the peace activist and leader whom the school is named after. Heavy explosions were also reported by media stations one after the other.
Vice Chancellor Fazal Rahim told reporters that the university teaches over 3,000 students and was hosting an additional 600 visitors today for the recital.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa s Member of Provincial Assembly Arshad Ali told the news channel that the attackers entered the university after scaling its walls. The militants took advantage of thick, wintry fog and set their posts on the rooftop and walls of the university before entering building and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels, said the local police official.
According to university sources the terrorists entered the university from the direction of the University Hostel no. 1 on site a little after 9:30AM. A computer science student who was rescued from the university said the poetry recital event to commemorate Bacha Khan s death anniversary was to begin at 10:30am.
"The university [security] on common days is enough to perplex students. They have five security checks. But the security is only for students and not VIPs," he said.
"In the beginning, there was just firing. There were attackers in the stairwell. We had no arms to counter them."
"In the Pushto Department and Computer Science blocks I saw at least three attackers."
The police and Pak army began rescue operation and after less than an hour of its commencement the Military spokesperson Lt.Gen Asim Bajwa said four attackers have been eliminated by Pak Army snipers.
Security personnel, including SSG personnel went inside the school to control the situation. The ISPR added that clearance of the university was underway block to block by security forces and back to back firing session had also stopped.
More than 50 people were injured in the attack, Provincial Minister Shaukat Yousafzai told the media. Fatalities have also been reported, with claims that as many as 20 people have been killed. The death toll could rise as rescue teams sweep the secured parts of the university for survivors and victims, a senior Charsadda district official told the media. Talking to reporters, minutes after coming off the campus he said the situation inside was very disturbing.
Chemistry lecturer Syed Hamid Hussain died fighting the militants at Bacha Khan University. According to an eyewitness student, their teacher took out his revolver and started firing at the attackers, asking his students to get inside and save their lives, when he was shot dead.
The rescue officials reported out of 50 rescued students five students were injured and have been shifted to District Headquarters Hospital, Charsadda for treatment. An emergency has also been imposed in all hospitals in the town.
The Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif also visited the university and district hospital where the effectees of the terrorist attack were under treatment. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan condemned the terrorist attack on the Bacha Khan University.
"I am going to Charsadda myself, and will review the situation myself. We are united against terrorism and all of Pakistan is on page," he told reporters.
The Pakistani Taliban, whose insurgency has killed thousands since it erupted in 2007, claimed the responsibility of this attack. The attack came a little over a year after Taliban attacked Army Public School and slaughtered more than 140 people in hours long siege, killing mostly children aged between eight to eighteen years. Moreover, much more recently, a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people on Tuesday in a rush-hour attack on a market on the outskirts of the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
