Militant attack on Pakistan police academy kills 44 02:52
At least 59 people were killed and 118 injured when militants attacked a police training academy in Quetta, Pakistan, late Monday night, government officials said.
Major General Sher Afgan, Chief of the Paramilitary Frontier Corps, told reporters Tuesday that Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-jhangvi was behind the attack -- an al Qaeda-linked militant group that has repeatedly carried out deadly attacks on the country's Shiite Muslim minority in recent years.
One attacker was killed by security forces; two others died when they detonated bombs they were carrying, said Sarfraz Bugti, Home Minister for Balochistan province. He added the assault ended in the early hours of Tuesday.
The attackers focused on a hostel at the academy where as many as 700 police cadets live. Two hundred cadets were rescued Monday night, Bugti said.
Five or six "terrorists entered the training school and (went) straight to the hostel where they took cadets hostage," the Pakistani army said in a statement.
There were reports of hostages but it was unclear how many or whether any hostages were among the dead or injured.
Similar attacks
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, a province long-plagued by violence.
In August of this year, the city saw one of the deadliest attacks Pakistan has ever seen when prominent lawyer, and president of the Balochistan Bar Association, Bilal Kasi, was murdered by gunmen.
Hours later, more than 72 people were killed in a bombing at a hospital where his body was taken.
"No one will be allowed to disturb peace in the province that has been restored due to countless sacrifices of security forces, police and the people of Balochistan," Pakistan's Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said at the time.
The prime minister also said in a statement that he had directed authorities to "maintain utmost vigilance."
Credit:CNN
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