QUETTA/Islamabad (INP): In one of the deadliest terrorist attacks this year, heavily-armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed a police academy in Quetta, killing at least 61 people and wounding more than 120, dozens of them seriously, rescue officials said Tuesday. According to reports, three gunmen burst into the sprawling academy, targeting security guard at the tower and then sleeping quarters home to some 700 recruits, and sent terrified unarmed young men aged between 15 and 25 fleeing.
Most of the deaths were caused when two of the attackers blew themselves up. The third was shot dead by Frontier Corps (FC) troops. At least 120 people were injured. I saw three men carrying Kalashnikov, they were in camouflage and their faces were hidden, one cadet told reporters. They started firing and entered the dormitory but I managed to escape by climbing over a wall.
The attack on the Balochistan Police College, around 20 kilometres east of Quetta, began at around 11:10pm Monday, with gunfire continuing to ring out at the site for several hours. Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti 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.
Major General Sher Afgan, chief of the paramilitary FC in Balochistan, which led the counter-operation, said the attack was over in around four hours after we arrived. The IG FC said \”terrorists were communicating with their handlers in Afghanistan\”. There were three terrorists and all of them were wearing suicide vests, he added.
Two suicide attackers blew themselves up, which resulted in casualties, while the third one was shot dead by our troops. The operation needed to be conducted with precision therefore it took us four hours to clear the area completely, he added.
He said communication intercepts showed the attackers belonged to the Al-Alimi faction of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi militant group which is affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The area was plunged into darkness when the counter-offensive was launched, while security personnel threw up a cordon and ambulances zoomed in and out, taking the injured to hospitals. Military helicopters circled overhead. The cadets were rescued from the college following an operation carried out by Special Services Group (SSG) commandos. The training college is situated on Sariab Road, which is considered to be one of the most sensitive areas of Quetta.
Militants have been targeting security forces in the area for almost a decade.
The training college has come under attack in the past in 2008 and 2006, with attackers firing rockets into the college playground. The attackers entered the complex through the front gate after shooting the guard manning the check post. A senior law enforcement agencies official said assailants had fired at the police training centre from five different points. Two terrorist entered the premises after shooting at the guard manning the check post near the front gate, while the third reportedly climbed the rear wall of the police centre.
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