Gunmen Kill at Least 30 People in Attack at Pakistani University

World | January 20, 2016, Wednesday // 16:48|  views

A bullet-ridden cupboard is seen in a hostel room of Bacha Khan University after a gunfight between security forces and gunmen, in Charsadda, Pakistan, 20 January 2016. Photo EPA/BGNES

At least 30 people have been killed and more than 19 were injured after gunmen attacked Bacha Khan University campus in Charsadda, north-west Pakistan, international newswires reported on Wednesday.

Four suspected attackers were also killed in a shootout with security forces which lasted nearly three hours.

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban, better known as Pakistani Taliban. This Pakistani militant group has launched numerous attacks on learning facilities in the country in recent years.

In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban killed 140 people, most of them children, in a school in Peshawar, just 40 kilometers away from the site of Wednesday’s attack.

The gunmen, reportedly wearing suicide bomb vests, entered Bacha Khan University campus on Wednesday at about 9:30 local time (4:30 GMT) and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and accommodation blocks. The dead included students, a senior faculty member and four guards, said Fakhr-i-Alam, a senior government official, according to the New York Times.

Three hours after the attack began, the Pakistani army reported to have killed four gunmen.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack and vowed to destroy “the menace of terrorism.”

“We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland,” Sharif said in a statement from Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.

Pakistani Dawn news website points out that before today’s attack, Pakistan already had the highest number of people killed at places of learning. With 850 attacks, Pakistan has the highest number of attacks on places of learning in the world, Dawn reported citing figures from Global Terrorism Database at the University of Maryland.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!


Tags: Pakistan, gunmen, attack, Nawaz Sharif, Charsadda, Bacha Khan University, Pakistani Taliban

Back  

» Related Articles:

Search

Search