Deadly Pakistani school attack raises security questions
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| Pakistani women light candles during a vigil for victims of the Bacha Khan University attack, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 in Peshawar, Pakistan. Taliban gunmen stormed a university in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing many people and triggering an hours-long gun battle with the army and police before the military declared that the assault in a town near the city of Peshawar was over. |
CHARSADDA,
Pakistan (AP) -- Once again, Islamic militants stormed a school
in northeastern Pakistan in a deadly attack that lasted for hours. And
once again, the blood of students and teachers stained classrooms and
hallways, raising questions about whether security forces are able to
protect the country's educational institutions from extremists.
At
least 20 people were killed and 23 were wounded Wednesday in the
assault at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda before the four gunmen
were slain and the military declared an end to the siege. Two teachers
were among the dead, including a chemistry professor who was praised as a
hero for shooting back at the attackers and allowing some students to
escape.
The university attack was grimly
reminiscent of the December 2014 massacre at an army public school in
nearby Peshawar that killed 150, mostly children.
A
breakaway faction of the Taliban took responsibility for the university
attack, although a spokesman for the larger Taliban organization, led
by Mullah Fazlullah, denied having anything to do with it and called it
"un-Islamic."
The violence shows how
vulnerable schools remain in Pakistan, where extremists have sought to
prevent Western-style education, especially for girls.
Malala
Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after the teenager was shot
in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 outside her school in the Swat
Valley because of her vocal support for gender equality and education
for girls. She said she was "heartbroken" by the latest attack.
Several
schools were closed last weekend after intelligence suggested militants
were planning an attack, according to Muhammed Amir Rana, director of
the private Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. A provincial
government spokesman said they were closed as part of a security drill.
After the Peshawar attack, the government promised to set up a joint Intelligence Directorate, but that has not happened yet.
The
military is one of Pakistan's most powerful institutions, as is the
intelligence agency, known as the ISI. It is especially difficult for
civilian governments to penetrate that authority and establish
intelligence sharing with government-operated security forces such as
the police.
"The government is trying to
develop a response but is facing capacity issues," Rana said,
particularly in the area of intelligence-sharing among the powerful
intelligence agencies and the police.
The army
has been pounding militant hideouts in the tribal areas on the border
with Afghanistan since June 2014, disrupting operations for the
Pakistani Taliban militants. Because of that campaign, analysts say the
extremists have turned to attacking soft targets such as schools.
"We
are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of
terrorism from our homeland," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a
statement after the attack.
A breakaway Taliban faction led by Khalifa Umar Mansoor said it had carried out the attack.
But
a statement emailed to news organizations by Muhammad Khorasani, the
spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban, the largest Taliban group, said: "We
disown, condemn the attack and term it as un-Islamic."
After the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, Taliban militants were united in taking responsibility for the violence.
Rana,
whose institute tracks militant movement, said the divisions in the
Taliban over who carried out Wednesday's attack probably has more to do
with a fear of retribution than a reflection of a deeply divided
Taliban.
The backlash that followed the
Peshawar attack was so severe that it probably left the Taliban
"reluctant to take credit, he added, noting that Afghan security forces
joined in operations against Pakistani Taliban hideouts afterward.
The
four militants invaded the campus of Bacha Khan University shortly
after classes began for the day in Charsadda, about 35 kilometers (21
miles) outside Peshawar, said Deputy Commissioner Tahir Zafar. Both men
and women attend the school, which has about 3,000 students, said its
vice chancellor, Fazle ur-Rahim Marwat.
The
university is named for one of Pakistan's greatest secular leaders,
Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known as Bacha Khan, who often espoused communist
philosophy. The attack coincided with the 28th anniversary of Bacha
Khan's death on Jan. 20, 1988.
As police and
soldiers rushed to the scene, the attackers traded gunfire with the
troops, and several explosions were heard. The attackers were later
contained inside two university blocks where the troops killed them, the
army said.
Among the 18 students and two
teachers who were slain was Syed Hamid Hussain, a chemistry professor
who witnesses said opened fire on the gunmen. Hussain fired as he moved
backward, herding his class out behind him before being killed in the
gunbattle, said student Bilal Khan.
The
attackers carried mobile phones with Afghan numbers and "were in touch
with their handlers in Afghanistan," said Pakistan military spokesman
Lt. Gen Asim Bajwa. Pakistan maintains that its militants often find
refuge in Afghanistan.
He told a news conference in Peshawar that the militants hate education because it is a symbol of progress.
In a statement on the Malala Fund's social media site, Yousafzai said: "This brutality must be stopped."
"I
am heartbroken by the attack on students and staff at the Bacha Khan
University in Charsadda and strongly condemn this brutal assault," she
said. "My prayers are with the families of all the victims and all those
who suffer as a result of extremist violence."
She
also called for Pakistani authorities to ensure "that all schools and
universities are safe. I urge all people with peace in their hearts to
renew their resolve to stand up to terrorism and ignorance, and work
together to protect life and learning."
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who also condemned the attack, reaffirmed
that violence against students, teachers and schools can never be
justified, and that "the right to education for all must be firmly
protected," said U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Ban
called for those behind the attack be brought to justice, adding that
there must be "proportionate and necessary measures to be taken to
ensure that schools in areas of insecurity and conflict are adequately
protected," Haq said.
Abdul Ghani, whose son
fled the carnage by running into a nearby sugar cane field, decried that
Pakistani students are "at risk of being killed."
Marwat,
the vice chancellor, said security forces alone could not keep students
safe, saying it required a move away from an extreme interpretation of
Islam.
Since the start of the new year,
Pakistan has been battered by five militant attacks, most of them
targeting security forces. Such attacks decreased last year, with the
military saying it made great strides in crushing the violence.
