At least 19 dead, including many students, as gunmen storm university

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack in which at least 19 people died at a university in Pakistan. Four of the attackers are known to have been killed at the campus building in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in the country’s northwest. Militants used the cover of thick, wintry fog to scale the walls of the Bacha Khan University in the town of Charsadda, about 18 miles (30km) from the city of Peshawar. They then went into university buildings and began to open fire on teachers and students in classrooms. Witnesses said the teacher, chemistry professor Dr Syed Hamid Husain, attempted to shoot back at the militants before he was gunned down.

He was holding a pistol in his hand. 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.

Geology student Zahoor Ahmed, who saw a professor gunned down

Explosions were heard inside and TV pictures showed heavily armed security personnel heading into the compounds as female students ran for their lives. At the university gates, distraught relatives of those being taught inside anxiously waited for news. Regional police chief Saeed Wazir said most of the student victims shot dead at a hostel for boys on the campus site. "More than 30 others including students, staff and security guards were wounded,“ he added, but another official said the number killed could rise to as high as 40.

Asia-Pacific Pakistan university