Islamabad, Oct 20 (Inditop.com) One woman was killed and 13 injured in two synchronised blasts, including a suicide bombing, that rocked a university in the Pakistan capital Tuesday afternoon when thousands of students were in the campus.
The bombings at the International Islamic University took place amid heightened security following the Pakistani military launching a major offensive against the Taliban, which has vowed retaliation over US drone attacks. There has been a wave of terror attacks in Pakistan since early this month.
Panic spread in the sprawling campus when the two bombings took place in quick succession.
The blasts took place at both the boys and girls campuses of the university, Dawn News reported.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at the girls’ cafeteria which was packed with students. The blast at the cafeteria was followed by a huge explosion in Sharia block.
Ahmed Hassan, an eyewitness, told Express TV that a man entered the university saying he had to deliver something. He then detonated himself.
Eyewitnesses said there were between 3,000-4,000 students present at the time of the blast in the university located in Islamabad’s sector H-11.
The injured include 11 girls and two boys. Four of the students are in a serious condition.
Fearing retaliation by the Taliban fighters, educational institutions governed by armed forces have been shut for at least one week.
Schools and colleges run by the army, air force and the navy shut after an intercepted telephonic conversation between two terrorists revealing a plot to hijack a bus of a renowned educational institution.
More than 160 people have been killed in the latest wave of militant violence, which started with a suicide bombing at the offices of the United Nations World Food Programme in Islamabad Oct 5. Five employees of the agency were killed.
The most audacious attack came on Oct 10 when 10 terrorists in military uniform laid siege to the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least 19 people, including nine raiders, died in the 22-hour standoff. One militant was arrested.
Thursday saw gunmen wearing suicide vests storming two police academies and the offices of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency in the eastern city of Lahore. A car bomber struck a police station in the northwestern town of Kohat. In all, at least 38 people including 11 insurgents were killed on a single day.
