Security is tight in Quetta after gunmen kill 59 in attack on a police academy

Record ID: 83829

  • Title: Security is tight in Quetta after gunmen kill 59 in attack on a police academy
  • Date: 25th October 2016
  • Summary: QUETTA, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 25, 2016) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ROAD LEADING TO POLICE ACADEMY WHERE ATTACK TOOK PLACE POLICE VANS COMING OUT OF GATE OF TRAINING CENTRE VARIOUS OF SOLDIER CHECKING MOTORCYCLISTS ENTERING CENTRE VARIOUS OF MOTORCYCLE ENTERING CENTRE POLICE VEHICLES DRIVING AWAY/ARMED SOLDIER WALKING NEAR GATE KARACHI, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) ROADSIDE NEWSPAPER KIOSK HEADLINE FROM DAILY TRIBUNE THAT READS (English): "TERRORISTS STORM POLICE TRAINING CENTRE" TWO MEN READING NEWSPAPERS CHILDREN WALKING TO SCHOOL RANGERS CAR PASSING ON ROAD
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2016 03:36
  • Keywords: Pakistan Quetta police academy attack killed
  • Location: QUETTA, KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • City: QUETTA, KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
  • Reuters ID: LVA00155I59AD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS VIDEO WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Police tightened security in Quetta on Tuesday (October 25) after at least 59 people were killed and 117 critically wounded when gunman stormed a Pakistani police training academy.
    More than 200 trainees were stationed at the facility when the attack occurred late on Monday (October 24), officials said, and some were taken hostage during the attack which lasted five hours.
    Most of the dead were police cadets.
    Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister of Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital, had confirmed early on Tuesday that five to six gunmen had attacked a dormitory inside the training facility while cadets rested and slept.
    No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but one of the top military commanders in Baluchistan, General Sher Afgun, told media that calls intercepted between the attackers and their handlers suggested they were from the sectarian militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
    Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose roots are in the heartland Punjab province, has a history of carrying out sectarian attacks in Baluchistan, particularly against the minority Hazara Shias. It was unclear what motive the group would have in attacking the police academy, a home ministry official said.
    Police, military and paramilitary personnel arrived at the training centre within 20 minutes of the attack and launched an operation which lasted around five hours, the home ministry said.
    Monday night's assault was the deadliest in Pakistan since a suicide bomber killed 70 people in an attack on mourners gathered at a hospital in Quetta in August.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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