Deaths in Pakistan campus bombing
At least seven killed in twin blasts in women’s cafeteria at an Islamabad university.
‘State of war’
“Seven people including two suicide bombers are dead, and 29 injured in the two attacks,” Rana Akbar Hayat, a senior city administration official, told the AFP news agency at the scene of the attack.
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The US embassy in Pakistan said the “vicious attack on a respected Islamic educational institution reveals yet again the cruel and inhuman nature of the terrorists operating against Pakistan and its people”.
Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s interior minister, said: “We are in a state of war. They will make every effort to destabilise the country.
“These so-called Islamists are enemies of Islam and enemies of Pakistan.”
Pakistani schools and colleges have closed because of fears about further attacks following Tuesday’s blasts, officials said.
‘Charred flesh’
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Broken glass and pieces of charred flesh littered the faculty building’s first floor, where blood dripped down the stairwell and students stepped through the debris, choking under thick smoke, an AFP reporter said at the scene of the blasts.
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from the scene, said: “We can see bits of clothes, scraps of books and a lot more worrying, very thick, dark red blood.
“There’s a thick heavy smell of smoke hanging in the air and every step we take have been punctuated by the sound of broken glass.
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| At least 29 people were wounded in Tuesday’s blasts at the university campus [Reuters] |
“The windows have been buckled, and the walls have fallen in … looking at the extent of the damage, I can understand why [the toll] may possibly rise.”
The Associated Press news agency said the International Islamic University was established on the outskirts of the city in the 1980s and has more than 12,000 students – nearly half of them women, many from abroad.
The latest bomb attacks come at a time when Pakistani troops are engaged in an offensive against suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in South Waziristan province.
Pakistan has witnessed a string of attacks this month, resulting in the deaths of more than 170 people.
Analysts say armed fighters opposed to the government are likely to step up attacks to avenge the offensive in South Waziristan.