Pakistani police: 6 killed in university attack underway

At least five people died in an armed assault on a university in Pakistan Wednesday, where witnesses reported two large blasts and security forces said gunmen were still on the loose.

Pakistan army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said on Twitter, “Snipers killed two more terrorists on roof top; total terrorist killed so far 4.

A Taliban leader, Khalifa Umar Mansoor, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in a phone call to The Associated Press from an undisclosed location.

The university, in Charsadda, near the border with Afghanistan, is less than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar, site of a December 2014 attack by militants from the Pakistan iTaliban. It was the latest attack on the vaccination campaign and health workers have been repeatedly targeted in recent years by Islamic militants.

About casualties from the attack, Fazal Raheem Marwat, vice chancellor at the university told Samaa that none of the students and teachers is injured; however, he said, four security guards have been wounded. Rescue sources have confirmed that injured people in the incident have been reached to 60, critically injured have been shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Charsadda, Also several have been shifted to Peshawar for medical treatment.

Faiz Muhammad, a resident, said firing was continuing at least four hours after the attack began and that army troops had besieged the campus.

Three persons have been killed including two terrorists and a chemistry professor, said the police.

“Then some security people arrived, they helped me escape”.

The attack is taking place on the campus in Charsadda, northwest of Islamabad The attack is taking place on the campus in Charsadda, northwest of Islamabad.

“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, adding that it was unclear how many gunmen were involved.

Pakistani rescuers carry an injured man to a hospital following the attack by gunmen in the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda.

The military said it had killed four extremists.

“We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland”, he said in a statement.

The school attack, which was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, horrified the country and led the government to lift a 2008 moratorium on the death penalty.