By Franz-Stefan Gady
Gunmen stormed a college campus in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killing students and faculty members.
At least four gunmen entered Bacha Khan University, located in the town of Charsadda in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least 30 and wounding 50 to 60 students and faculty members, according to local media reports.
The attack began around 9:30am local time when militants wearing black turbans cut through a back fence (some accounts state that they scaled a university wall) in the cover of thick morning fog, and opened fire on students near a boys hostel while shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.” Ashfaq Ahmad, a security officer of the university, told the Washington Post that the attackers “were restricted to the boy’s hostel when security guards opened fire on them.”
“The attackers cut the barbed wire and jumped into the campus. Our guards engaged them and they did not reach the girl’s hostel and main administration block,” he added. Most of the victims appear to have been male students, but also included a senior faculty member, a cook, and up to four security guards.
Some of the militants appear to also have made it into one of the administration buildings and classrooms.Raza Mohammed Khan, deputy superintendent of the police in Charsadda, said that no more gunmen remain inside the university. The Pakistani Army said that clearance operations have ended.
Read the full story at The Diplomat