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Militants kill at least 61 in bloodyraid on Pakistan police academy

QUETTA (PAKISTAN) — At least 61 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when heavily masked gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed into a Pakistani police training academy in the south-western city of Quetta and took hostages, government officials said yesterday in an attack that was later claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

QUETTA (PAKISTAN) — At least 61 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when heavily masked gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed into a Pakistani police training academy in the south-western city of Quetta and took hostages, government officials said yesterday in an attack that was later claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

Hundreds of trainees were stationed at the facility when the gunmen stormed the Balochistan Police College, around 20km east Quetta late on Monday. Some cadets were taken hostage during the raid, which lasted nearly five hours. Most of the dead were cadets.

“Militants came directly into our barrack. They just barged in and started firing point blank. We started screaming and running around in the barrack,” one police cadet told media.

IS’ Amaq news agency published the militant group’s claim of responsibility, saying three IS fighters “used machine guns and grenades, then blew up their explosive vests in the crowd”.

But Pakistani officials said another Sunni extremist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), was probably behind the raid.

Mr Sarfaraz Bugti, Home Minister of Balochistan province, said the gunmen attacked a dormitory in the training facility while cadets rested and slept.

“Two attackers blew up themselves, while a third one was shot in the head by security men,” he said.

Major-General Sher Afgan, chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Balochistan, which led the counter-operation, said communications intercepts showed the militants belonged to the Al-Alami faction of the LeJ militant group — which is affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban. “They were in communication with operatives in Afghanistan,” he said.

The authorities launched a crackdown against LeJ last year, particularly in Punjab province, killing the group’s leader Malik Ishaq and 13 members of the central leadership in what police said was a failed escape attempt.

Afghanistan has condemned the attack and dismissed Pakistan’s allegations that the assault was planned from bases inside Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan is the biggest victim of terrorism and denounces all terrorist attacks,” said Mr Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri, spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

In a separate statement, Mr Ghani also condemned the attack, saying that “terrorism is a threat throughout the region, which is reflected in the brutal act today in Quetta”.

Pakistan has been battling an Islamist insurgency since it decided to become an ally of the United States following its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Violence has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives in the north-west border areas as well as concerted efforts to block the militants’ sources of funding.

But remnants of militant groups are still able to carry out periodic bloody attacks, particularly in the north-west. AGENCIES

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