ARMED TEACHER HAILED AS HERO
ISLAMABAD • After terrorists killed about 150 people at a school in northwestern Pakistan 13 months ago, officials started arming teachers and gave them weapons training.
The move was controversial and divided parents and academic officials. But a Pakistani teacher armed with a pistol is being credited with saving lives during a terrorist attack at Bacha Khan University. Taliban gunmen stormed the university in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and triggering a heavy gun battle with police and army troops who rushed to the scene, officials said.
According to Agence France-Presse, Syed Hamid Husain, an assistant chemistry professor, pulled out his pistol and began firing at two of the attackers as they neared a classroom. But the 27-year-old teacher was outgunned by the militants, who were armed with assault rifles. After a gun battle, Husain was killed, students said.
Still, students say Husain is hero. By pulling out his weapon, they told reporters, their teacher gave them time to escape.
“I saw a bullet hit him,” a student said. “I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, another student confirmed that Husain took out his pistol as the attack unfolded.
Shahid Malik, 22, said he and some friends rushed out of their room when they heard gunfire.
“We saw the professor standing there with a gun in his hand,” he said. “He told us to rush back to our rooms and do not open the door for anyone.
“When the firing stopped, after a while, we came down and saw the professor dead, lying on the ground with the same gun in his hand.”
Another student, Mohammad Shabeer, said Husain held off the attackers for 15 minutes before he was killed.
Wednesday’s attack began shortly after the start of classes in the town of Charsadda, about 35 kilometres outside Peshawar, said deputy commissioner Tahir Zafar.
A Taliban leader, Khalifa Umar Mansoor, claimed responsibility for the attack. Mansoor, who was the organizer of the Peshawar attack 13 months ago, said a four-man Taliban team carried out the assault. All four assailants were killed.