GUNMEN OPENFIRE, AT LEAST 20 KILLED.

 

 

Several gunmen have attacked Bacha Khan University in northwest Pakistan, reportedly killing up to 20 people and injuring 50 others. Several armed men entered the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in Pakistan’s restive northwest Khyber -Pakhtunkhwa province, located 40 kilometres from Peshawar in Pakistan, and opened gunfire on Wednesday.
– Death toll in Pakistan university attack rises to 21, operation ended: AFP
– Bacha Khan university is named after Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (known also as Frontier Gandhi), was a Pashtun independence activist against the rule of the British Raj. People had gathered at the university to mark the his death anniversary.
  Four terrorists killed so far. All buildings and rooftop taken over by Army.

 

 – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have claimed responsibility for the attack, says Pakistan’s Express Tribune

– I saw three attackers engaged in an exchange of fire with security guards, says eyewitness. (Dawn News)
– Journalists and non-essential personnel asked to stay back from the University area, says Pakistan’s Dawn News.
–  According to a rescued student 60 to 70 students had been shot in the head by the attackers, says Pakistan’s Dawn News.
– Four attackers have been killed so far, operation continues: Police

 

He said two explosions were heard inside the university campus. Pakistan army troops and police commandos had arrived and entered the university campus, Ali said.
Wazir said law enforcement agencies had been called from adjoining districts to Charsadda to protect the students and other staff members of the university. He said some of the students had been rescued from their residential hostels to safe place and efforts were underway to protect others
The university had been warned by security officials about a likely attack and had extra security arrangements, a senior Bacha Khan University official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Marwat, the vice chancellor, said 3,000 students are enrolled at the university, and 600 others work in various departments.
An emergency has been declared in all the hospitals of Charsadda district, officials said. All roads in and out of Charsadda district had been sealed, police said.
An eyewitness and one of the university students, Bakhtiar Khan, said he saw four militants firing at the security guards.
"They shot [and] injured three security guards and one of them later went to Block number one, another climbed to upper floor of the building and the third one went towards administration block," he said.
In December of 2014, a half-dozen suicide bombers laid siege to the Army Public School in Peshawar, a city about 20 miles southwest of Bacha Khan University. That attack, carried out by the Taliban, left 143 students and several soldiers dead.