Conflicting claims over Pakistan university attack

Gunmen on Wednesday attacked the Bacha Khan University in Pakistan as it prepared to host a

poetry recital in the afternoon to commemorate the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar

Khan, a popular ethnic Pashtun independence activist after whom the university is named.

Vice-Chancellor Fazal Rahim told reporters that the university teaches over 3,000 students and

was hosting an additional 600 visitors for the poetry recital.

Umar Mansoor, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander involved in the December 2014 attack on

the army school in Peshawar, claimed responsibility for the Charsadda assault and said it

involved four of his men. He told Reuters by telephone the university was targeted because it was

a government institution that supported the army.

However, later in the day, official Taliban spokesman Muhammad Khorasani issued a written

statement disassociating the militants from the attack, calling it un-Islamic.

“Youth who are studying in non-military institutions, we consider them as builders of the future

nation and we consider their safety and protection our duty,” the statement said.

“The reason for the conflicting claims was not immediately clear.,” reported a leading daily from

Pakistan. While the Taliban leadership is fractured, Mansoor is believed to remain loyal to central

leader Mullah Fazlullah.

The Pakistani Taliban are fighting to topple the government and install a strict interpretation of

Islamic law. They are loosely allied with the Afghan Taliban who ruled most of Afghanistan until

they were overthrown by U.S.-backed military action in 2001.

By afternoon on Wednesday, the Pakistani military said all four gunmen had been killed. “The

operation is over and the university has been cleared,” Pakistan army spokesman General Asim

Bajwa said.

A security official close to the operation said he had seen the four gunmen’s bodies riddled with

bullets. He said none of the gunmen was wearing a suicide vest, but they carried guns and

grenades.

“We are determined and resolved in

our commitment”

Pakistan, which has suffered from years of jihadist militant violence, has killed and arrested

hundreds of suspected militants under a major crackdown launched afterwards. The Peshawar

school attack was seen as having hardened Pakistan’s resolve to fight militants along its lawless

border withAfghanistan. “We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the

menace of terrorism from our homeland,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a statement after

attack.

Malala ‘heartbroken’ by attack on Pakistan university

Nobel-prize winner Malala Yousafzai has said she is “heartbroken by the attack on

students and staff at the Bacha Khan University” which may have killed up to 40

people.

In a statement, Malala, who was shot by the Taliban for her views on female

education, “strongly condemned” the attack.

“I am heartbroken by the attack on students and staff at the Bacha Khan University

in Charsadda and strongly condemn this brutal assault. My prayers are with the

families of all the victims and all those who suffer as a result of extremist violence.

This brutality must be stopped. The authorities must act to ensure that all schools

and universities are safe. I urge all people with peace in their hearts to renew their

resolve to stand up to terrorism and ignorance and work together to protect life and

learning. This attack happened on the 28th anniversary of the death of Abdul Ghaffar

Khan who was a great freedom fighter, a man of peace. I hope his message of non-

violence and harmony will prevail and end intolerance in our society,” said Malala

Yousafzai

US condemns attack

The US has condemned the terror attack at a university in Pakistan’s restive

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, saying the blatant disregard for human life

displayed by the attackers is intolerable.

Condemning the Taliban attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, the

US Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale said the US stands with the

government and people of Pakistan and is committed to supporting their

efforts to fight terrorism.

“The blatant disregard for human life displayed by these attackers is

intolerable,” Hale said in a statement here. “It is especially reprehensible that

the attackers targeted an educational institution where students and educators

are seeking to better themselves and the nation of Pakistan,” he said.

He said the “appalling” attack stands in stark opposition to “the desires of the

Pakistani people to create a secure, stable, and prosperous country, based on

respect for all.” “We offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their

families during this time of grief,” he said, adding that the US supports

Pakistan’s efforts to bring to justice those behind the attack

‘Hero teacher’ goes down fighting

militants

Hailed as martyr

 Assistant professor Syed Hamid Hussain, 34, at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda

fought back against the terrorists as he warned students not to leave the building after

hearing the shots

 Students said the hero teacher flashed his pistol but was gunned down by the militants.

Netizens took to social networking sites like Twitter to hail the lecturer as a “martyr”

University bus drivers saved many

 There were nearly 3,000 students and staff in Bacha Khan University at the time of the

terror attack,besides about 600 guests. They had gathered onthe campus for a poetry

recital to commemoratethe anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan,popularly known as

Bacha Khan

 Ayat Ibrahim, a student, said she was stunned by the attack but did what many other

students did at thespur of the moment — she ran towards the universitybuses parked in

the vicinity. As the buses began tofill up, the drivers drove away out of the campus attop

speed, saving numerous lives

In a heroic act, a Pakistani chemistry professor in his 30s today lost his life while trying

to protect his students using his licensed pistol against armed Taliban militants who

stormed the university. Assistant professor Syed Hamid Hussain, 34, fought back against

the terrorists as he warned students not to leave the building of the Bacha Khan

university in Charsadda, some 50 km southwest of Peshawar.

Students spoke of the hero teacher, who flashed his pistol but was gunned down by the

militants besides 24 others, media reports said. Geology student Zahoor Ahmed said his

chemistry lecturer had warned him not to leave the building after the first shots were

fired. “He was holding a pistol in his hand,” he said. “Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw

two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back

wall.” Another student told television reporters he was in class when he heard gunshots.

“We saw three terrorists shouting slogans and rushing towards the stairs of our

department,” he said as he described seeing the chemistry professor holding a pistol and

firing at the attackers. “Then we saw him fall down and as the terrorists entered the

(registrar) office we ran away,” said the student.

A traumatised sutdent said they saw several young men wielding AK-47 guns storming

the university housing where many students were sleeping. They came from behind and

there was a big commotion. We were told by teachers to leave immediately. Some people

hid in bathrooms

President Mamnoon Hussain confirmed Hamid was among the deceased and condoled

his death.

Netizens took to social networking sites like Twitter to hail the lecturer as a “martyr”.

“Martyr of #education: Prof Hamid who was killed by terrorists in

#BachaKhanUniversity #Pakistan,” tweeted journalist and academic Raza Ahmad Rumi.

The official Facebook page of the university also said Hamid was among those killed.

Teachers in northwest Pakistan were given permission to carry firearms in the classroom

after the Peshawar school carnage of December 2014 in which Taliban militants killed

over 150 people, mostly children.

Pak’s ‘most hated’ man

Umar Mansoor, who claimed the deadly attack on Bacha Khan University in Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa’s Charsadda, is the de facto operational head of Tehreek-i-Taliban

Pakistan (TTP) in KP province A profile titled ‘Pakistan’s most hated man: volleyball

player, child killer’ described Mansoor as a 37-year-old father of three and volleyball

enthusiast who is nicknamed “Slim”. He is claimed by TTP to be the mastermind of

2014’s massacre of 134 children and nine staff at a military-run school in Peshawar – the

deadliest militant attack in Pakistan’s history