TALIBAN CLAIMS IT KILLED STUDENTS
20 die in hail of gunfire at college in Pakistan
• Gunmen slipped into a college campus under cover of fog Wednesday, killing at least 20 people — some shot execution style — in the latest terrorist attack in Pakistan targeting students in apparent revenge for expanding military crackdowns.
The attack, claimed by a Taliban faction, is likely to unite the country behind stern action against Islamist militant groups 13 months after a similar rampage on a nearby army- run school killed about 150 students and teachers.
Four suspected attackers also were killed in Wednesday’s bloodshed, officials said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed a “ruthless response,” saying the attack was on all of Pakistan.
“Cowards and their finances will see our national resolve to eliminate terror,” a statement issued by his office said, even as some Pakistani media outlets reported that the death toll could rise from among the dozens wounded.
The assault began about 9 a.m. when at least four gunmen cut through a back fence into Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, about 50 kilometres from Peshawar.
“I saw two terrorists standing on the roof … They were shouting Allahu Akhbar,” said Basit Khan, a student of computer science. “After that, firing started and I and my friends started running. There were people screaming. We were terrified.”
Eyewitnesses said many of the university students were shot in the head.
A Pakistani Taliban regional group claimed responsibility for the attack. “We have sent four suicide attackers and they have killed dozens of people,” said a statement by the group, which is also believed to have been behind the Peshawar school attack.
“This is a message to the Pakistani army and civilian leadership, who have executed 130 mujahedeen, our people. We will carry out more attacks to take revenge on them,” the group said.
Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, a spokesman for the Pakistan military, said security forces converged on the campus and killed four suspected terrorists.
The coed university is named after Bacha Khan, a Pashtun nationalist leader who was the founder of Pakistan’s Awami National Party. The party is known for its strong anti-Taliban views, and many of its leaders have been killed in recent years. Wednesday was the 28th anniversary of Khan’s death. The attack occurred as a gathering of Pashtun poets was taking place on campus to commemorate the anniversary.
The university also has 450 women among its 3,000 students. Islamic extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan are deeply opposed to the mingling of men and women outside the home, and view women’s education as a pernicious Western import.
‘THIS IS A MESSAGE TO THE PAKISTANI ARMY AND LEADERSHIP ... WE WILL CARRY OUT MORE
ATTACKS.’ — TALIBAN FACTION