AMN /
At least 25 people were killed and more than 50 others injured after heavily-armed militants stormed a prestigious Bacha Khan university and opened indiscriminate fire on students and teachers today. Four terrorists were also killed during operation launched by security forces to clear the University.
Terrorists stromed Bacha Khan University on occasion of an ‘Mushaira’ held to commemorate the death anniversary of late ‘Khudai Khidmatgar’ Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Bacha Khan on Wednesday.
The gunmen entered the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda district of restive northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, some 50 kms southwest of Peshawar, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels.
Media reports said, blasts and heavy gunfire were heard from inside the University campus. Provincial Minister Shaukat Yousafzai has confirmed that 25 people, including Chairman of Chemistry Department Professor Hamid a professor, have been killed and around 50 others injured in the terrorist attack. The injured were shifted to hospital. An emergency has been declared in all hospitals in the town. All schools have been closed in the area.
Yousafzai further said between four to 10 attackers were involved in attack. Soon after the attack, a large contingent of security forces rushed to the site and started evacuating students. Pakistan Army troops also rushed to the University from Peshawar and started operation. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed the responsibility for the attack, the Express Tribune reported.
University Chancellor Dr Fazal Rahim said there were over 3,000 students present inside the university along with an additional 600 guests who are present for a poetic symposium to mark the death anniversary of Khudai Khidmatgar Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Baacha Khan who died on January 20, 1988.
Bacha Khan University is a public university situated in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The University has been named in honour of the great peace activist and leader, Bacha Khan, whose message of peace and universal brotherhood will be the main motto of the University to steer the organization in the years ahead which would lead Pakistan into the comity of respectable nations of the world.
Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda and expressed his government’s firm resolve to hit them back harder. He also expressed deep grief over the loss of precious human lives and directed the law enforcement agencies for forcefully counter the terrorists.