21 Killed, Dozens Injured in Gunmen Attack to NW Pakistan University

On Wednesday, three gunmen broke into the Bacha Khan University in the province’s Charsada district and started to shoot indiscriminately at students and teachers.

“Police told me that firing is continuing on the campus,” said Fazal Raheem Marwat, vice chancellor at the university in the district, which is located roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the provincial capital of Peshawar. “At the moment, I have no details about the casualties from the attack,” he added.

Local police official, Amjad Khan, who was outside the university, said firing was still going on inside the campus. According local TV channels, three gunmen entered the Bacha Khan University and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels.

Shabir Khan, a lecturer at the university, said most of the students and staff were in the classes when the firing began. “We launched an operation inside the university and are trying to rescue the students and staff of the institution,” said Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir.

According to early media reports, a chemistry professor has been killed and 50 people wounded by the militants, who used the cover of thick fog to carry out the attack.

The incident takes place more than a year after pro-Taliban militants stormed an army-run school in Peshawar and killed about 150 people, including 134 students, in December 2014. The massacre shocked and outraged a country already scarred by nearly a decade of attacks, Press TV reported.