At least 21 people died in an armed attack on Bacha Khan university in Pakistan today.
Reportedly, after two large explosions, the security forces moved in under dense fog to halt the bloodshed. After armed men stormed the university in Charsadda, the number of deaths went on increasing.
Police, soldiers and special forces swarmed the university from the ground and the air in a bid to shut down the assault, as television images showed female students running for their lives.
"The death toll in the terrorist attack has risen to 21," regional police chief Saeed Wazir said.
Most of the student victims shot dead, at the boys hostel campus. “More than 30 others, including students, staff and security guards were wounded,” he added.
Emergency official Bilal Faizi described seeing five bodies, all with bullet wounds.
Military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa tweeted, “Update: Snipers killed 2 more terrorists on roof top, total Terrorist killed so far 4. All buildings (and) roof top taken over by Army. op continues.”
However, it was not immediately clear, if the 4 were included in the toll of 12, given by Wazir. One of the teachers named, Syed Hamid Hussain fought back against the intruders, shooting his weapon in a bid to protect his charges.
Geology student Zahoor Ahmed said his chemistry lecturer had warned him not to leave the building after the first shots were fired. “He was holding a pistol in his hand. Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall,” he said.
Another student, who was in class when he heard gunshots, said, “We saw three terrorists shouting, 'Allah is great!' and rushing towards the stairs of our department. One student jumped out of the classroom through the window. We never saw him get up.”
The student who saw his chemistry professor, holding the pistol and firing at the attackers said, “Then we saw him fall down and as the terrorists entered the (registrar) office we ran away.”
Lecturer, Dr Hamid had died, Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain confirmed.
Witnesses said several people in combat fatigues and carrying automatic weapons entered the campus, after the attack began, as helicopters buzzed overhead and ambulances raced to the scene.
Officials at hospitals in the city confirmed they were receiving injured patients, and Shaukat Yousafzai, provincial information minister said that some of the injured were being taken to Peshawar.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which had echoes of a Taliban assault on an army-run school in Peshawar in December 2014 that killed more than 150 people, most of them children.
"There are male and female staff members and students on the campus," university vice chancellor Fazal Raheem Marwat said, adding he had been on his way to work when he was informed of the attack.
"There was no announced threat, but we had already beefed up security at the university."
Naik Mohammed, security chief at the university, said the attackers had entered close to a campus guest house.
Taliban assault on the Peshawar school in 2014, was Pakistan's deadliest ever attack, and prompted a crackdown on extremism in the country.
After a public outcry, the military launched an offensive against extremists in the tribal areas where they had previously operated with impunity.
Pakistan's Jinnah Institute stated in a report released yesterday that, the National Action Plan (NAP) helped curb extremist violence last year, although targeted attacks against religious minorities spiked in the Muslim nation of some 200 million people.
"The NAP has allowed improvements in two areas: the first actual implementation of prosecution against hate speech, and the arrest of terrorists from sectarian organisations which feed religious violence," said one of the authors, Syed Hassan Akbar.
In addition to the bomber, yesterday, a suicide attack at a market on the city's outskirts killed 10 people.
By Phani Ch
