Nine killed by Pakistani Taliban invasion of Peshawar University

Armed Taliban militants wearing burqas stormed the Peshawar Agricultural University today, killing at least nine people and injuring 35 others, police and hospital sources said.

The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a rally in the northwestern Pakistani city of Tahrir Khan, officials said.

"Members of the army and police special forces have cordoned off the university premises," Khan said, adding that "an explosion was heard from the university."

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying through its spokesman Mohammad Khorasani that they had targeted a military intelligence shelter.

The gunmen arrived at the university in a tricycle and wore a burqa, a garment worn by many women in the area, Khan explained. They shot and wounded a guard before entering the campus, he added.

One of the injured students, Ahtesan ul-Haq, said the university dormitory housed almost 400 students, but most had gone home for a weekend party and only 120 were left.
"We were asleep when we heard gunshots. "I got up and within seconds everyone was running and shouting 'the Taliban have attacked us.'

Sehzad Akbar, head of the Hayatabad hospital, said six people who had been treated there had succumbed to their injuries while another 18 were receiving treatment.

Three more people died at Khimber University Hospital, where 17 others are injured, according to its director.

In December 2014, the Pakistani Taliban killed 134 children at an army school in Peshawar, one of the bloodiest attacks in the country's history.