More than 100 people were injured in the attack at Balochistan Police College.
SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — At least 59 cadets have been killed after militants attacked a police academy in the Pakistani city of Quetta, officials said late Monday.
Three militants wearing suicide bomb vests entered the college Monday, reportedly taking hostages. A major security operation lasted for hours and all attackers were killed.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Quetta has seen similar attacks by separatists and Islamist militants in recent years. Hundreds of trainees were evacuated from Balochistan Police College as troops arrived to repel the militants. Local media reported at least three explosions at the scene.
Officials blamed a faction of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group and said the attackers “were in communication with operatives in Afghanistan”.
“I saw three men in camouflage whose faces were hidden carrying Kalashnikovs,” one cadet said. “They started firing and entered the dormitory but I managed to escape over a wall.”
There was intermittent exchange of fire between the attackers and security forces for several hours, according to Dawn newspaper. There were also reports of a hostage situation.
More than 100 people, mostly trainees, were injured.
Pakistan’s army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps took part in the military counter-operation, which Balochistan provincial home minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti said was now over.
In August, 88 people were killed in separate bomb attacks targeting a hospital and lawyers in Quetta.
