Terrorists kill 61, injure 117 at Pakistani Police academy

Cadets at a police training academy in Pakistan awoke to the horror of suicide bomb-wielding terrorists in an attack late Monday that killed 61 and injured 117. According to Asif Hussain, a cadet who was at the barracks at the time, "We were sleeping when terrorists attacked the centre." He said cadets had no guns […]

Cadets at a police training academy in Pakistan awoke to the horror of suicide bomb-wielding terrorists in an attack late Monday that killed 61 and injured 117.

According to Asif Hussain, a cadet who was at the barracks at the time, "We were sleeping when terrorists attacked the centre."

He said cadets had no guns and were powerless to fight back when the militants struck through the window.

Three attackers were killed during the assault targeting a hostel at the academy, said Sarfraz Bugti, home minister for the south-western Pakistani province of Balochistan.

Security forces killed one, and two others died when they detonated the bombs they were carrying, he said.

At least, 260 cadets were rescued during the assault, which lasted through early Tuesday, he said.

Maj. Gen. Sher Afgan, chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, told reporters Tuesday that Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was behind the attack.

The al Qaeda-linked militant group has repeatedly carried out deadly attacks on the country’s Shiite Muslim minority in recent years.

Three days of mourning have been announced in Balochistan province for the dozens of dead, most of whom were police cadets.

Safar Khan, a 24-year-old cadet who was inside his barracks when gunshots rang out, told CNN the survivors refused be intimidated.

"We will not bow down before terrorists," he said.

 

…UPDATE

ISIS has claimed responsibility via its Amaq media wing for a deadly attack Monday night on a police academy in Quetta, Pakistan.

The claim conflicts with an earlier statement from Pakistani officials Tuesday, in which authorities said the al Qaeda-linked militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was behind the attack. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has not issued a claim of responsibility.

 

ISIS had previously claimed responsibility for a deadly terror attack in the city which was also claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Pakistan’s Tehreek-i Taliban (TTP). (CNN)