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Dozens Dead After Terrorist Rampage at Pakistani University

It remains unclear who is responsible for a deadly terrorist attack that left dozens dead at a Pakistani university Wednesday.

By Siobhán O'Grady

PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN - JANUARY 20: (EDITORS NOTE: Image depicts death.) Body of a militant is seen after Pakistani Taliban gunmen stormed Bacha Khan University's campus in the Charsadda town of Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan on January 20, 2016. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

January 20, 2016, 9:30 AM

Dozens are dead and many more are believed to be injured after four unidentified gunmen opened fire at Bacha Khan University in northwestern Pakistan early Wednesday morning.

The assailants, who reportedly entered campus wearing suicide vests at 9:30 a.m. local time, rampaged classrooms and other public spaces before they were killed. At least two were shot in a dramatic standoff with Pakistani security officers, and it was not immediately clear whether the other two blew themselves up or were also shot dead.

The campus was reportedly covered in a dense fog, which may have allowed the gunmen to enter the school without being detected by security. Now that the four-hour standoff has ended, witnesses suspect the death toll will rise significantly, although initial reports suggest around 30 are dead.

The attack took place in Charsadda, just 25 miles from the elementary school where 132 students — mainly children of military personnel — were massacred in December 2014.

Although the attacks both targeted schools and were carried out not far from each other, assailants affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban took credit for the 2014 slaughter. The group has not yet claimed responsibility for this attack.

Initial rumors floating on social media suggested a commander in the militant group — also known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP — credited the group within hours of the attack Wednesday morning. But Mohammad Khorasani, the group’s main spokesman, reportedly denied those claims and disparaged the attack as “un-Islamic.”

Pakistani Taliban militants were also responsible for the attempted murder of Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who was targeted for standing up for girls’ rights to education and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

In December, Khorasani published an infographic on Twitter boasting that the militant group had a particularly violent year, with 136 attacks carried out in 2015 alone. If they later backtrack and take credit for Wednesday’s rampage, that would mean 2016 is off to a similar start.

Photo Credit: Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images