Terror attack at Pakistan University, gun battle on

Charsada, Pakistan: A group of terrorists stormed into Bacha Khan University in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan on Wednesday leaving at least 20 dead and several injured. According to Pakistan Army officials, snipers have killed two more terrorists. Four terrorists have been neutralised so far. The Army official added that all buildings & roof tops have been taken over by the Army.

Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir said that 70 percent of students had been rescued. “20 people are feared dead and 50 injured in Bacha Khan University attack, 12 terrorists are still inside the varsity,” said Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Pervez Khattak.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the same terrorist organisation behind the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, have claimed responsibility for the attack on Bacha Khan University, according Pakistani media reports.

Unconfirmed Pakistani media reports suggest that there have been several casualties.

3,000 students and 600 guests were attending a special event at the Bacha Khan University.

The militants, using the cover of thick, wintry fog, scaled the walls of the Bacha Khan University, before entering buildings and opening fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels.

The Pakistani military's media wing said the army had cordoned off the university with the militants inside and were carrying out air surveillance.

The University's vice chancellor said that the attack was still ongoing.

"Police told me that firing is continuing on the campus," said Fazal Raheem Marwat, vice chancellor at the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the city of Peshawar.

"Gunmen entered the university campus from the southern side," he said.

"There are several staff members and students on the campus," he said, adding he had been on his way to work when he was informed of the attack.

"There was no announced threat but we had already beefed up security at the university."

Firing could be heard from inside the university where students, teachers and administration staff are present, say Pakistani media reports.

Pakistan army’s quick-response force have been summoned to the university site, as police continue gun-battle with terrorists.

"Armed men stormed into the university premises early this morning," Sardheri police officials said, adding that two explosions were heard inside the building.

Peshawar was the location of Pakistan's deadliest ever extremist attack, when Taliban gunmen stormed an army-run school in December, 2014 and slaughtered more than 150 people, most of them children, in an hours-long siege.

Defence analysts say that the attack on Bacha Khan University is similar to the one on the Peshawar Army school.

The attack on the school prompted a crackdown on extremism in Pakistan, with the military increasing an offensive against militants in the tribal areas where they had previously operated with impunity.

On Tuesday, a suicide attack at a market on the city's outskirts killed 10 people as well as the bomber.