Islamist militants kill 60 in Pakistan police attack
QUETTA (AFP) — Heavily armed Islamist militants wearing suicide vests stormed a Pakistani police academy, killing at least 60 people and wounding dozens more, officials said yesterday in one of the deadliest extremist attacks this year.
Three gunmen from a Pakistani Taliban- linked group burst into the sprawling academy, targeting sleeping quarters that are home to some 700 recruits, sending terrified young men fleeing.
“I saw three men in camouflage whose faces were hidden carrying Kalashnikovs,” one cadet told reporters. “They started firing and entered the dormitory but I managed to escape over a wall.”
The attack on the Balochistan Police College, around 20 kilometers east of provincial capital Quetta, began at around 11:10 p.m. (1810 GMT) Monday, with gunfire continuing to ring out at the site for several hours.
Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister of Balochistan province, told reporters there had been three attackers.
“They first targeted the watch tower sentry, and after exchanging fire, killed him and were able to enter the academy grounds,” he said.
Balochistan’s provincial government spokesman Anwarullah Kakar told AFP that 60 people had died in the attack, with 118 injured, mostly minor wounds.
The head of the local hospital, doctor Fareed Sumalani, confirmed that their morgue had received at least 60 bodies.