Militants Kill 20 During School Ceremony in Pakistan

Pakistan security forces reportedly engaged in a gun battle with four suspects over several hours before the militants were killed, The Guardian said.

Witnesses said the teacher, chemistry professor Dr Syed Hamid Husain, attempted to shoot back at the militants.

A Pakistani official says the army and police have finished their operation to clear Taliban gunmen following an attack on a university campus in the country’s northwest.

There are around 3,000 students at Bacha Khan University, Vice Chancellor Fazal Raheem told the media, Daily Pakistan reported.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to The Associated Press Wednesday, then later disowned the group behind the attack.

He added that the attack was in retaliation for a military offensive against extremists in tribal areas, but an official spokesman for the group later appeared to go against the commander by describing it as “un-Islamic”.

The US today condemned the terror attack at a university in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, saying the blatant disregard for human life displayed by the attackers is intolerable.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a statement, quoted by Reuters news agency: “We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland”. Television footage showed heavy military presence at the university, troops rushing in and people fleeing. Firing from other terrorists is still underway, reported the police.

While there may be more than 21 casualties and victims in this Pakistan university attack, security forces took control of the campus after the attack.

Police official Tariq Khan said the assault that began shortly after the university opened on Wednesday morning.

The gunmen opened fire at the students and faculty members who gathered in a school on the campus for a poetry recital to commemorate the anniversary of the activist-leader after whom the school is named. One hundred forty-five people, including 132 children and the school’s principal, were killed in that attack.

“Around 200 students have been safely evacuated from an examination hall in the university”, Provincial Public Health Engineering Minister Shah Farman said.