Terror struck Lahore for the second time in a month today when heavily armed gunmen stormed a police academy near here killing at least nine people in an eight-hour siege that ended when all the attackers were captured or killed.
Lahore police chief Habibur Rehman said eight police recruits and a civilian were killed in the brazen attack. Other officials said more than 90 people, most of them policemen, were injured in the incident.
Earlier, media reports had put the death toll at 27 but the figure was scaled down after security forces conducted a sweep of the training centre after killing or overpowering the attackers. Dawn News channel put the death toll at 13. Confusion persisted about the exact number of terrorists who carried out the attack. Chief military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said four terrorists were killed and three others captured. Other police officials said four terrorists had been captured. Police and army sources told PTI that at least three terrorists had blown themselves up to avoid capture. The sources said the terrorists had been unable to take any recruits hostage as the casualties would have been higher in such an eventuality.
The terrorists launched the attack at about 7.30 am by lobbing grenades and firing indiscriminately before storming the training centre at Manawan, located about 12 km from the Indian border. Reports said the terrorists were wearing police uniforms and carrying backpacks. Many recruits on parade at a ground within the centre were taken unawares when the terrorists attacked them. Others were shot mercilessly within their barracks. Some recruits jumped from the second storey of their barracks to escape.
A large number of policemen and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers then surrounded the centre and launched an operation to flush out the terrorists. Sporadic firing and explosions continued till 3.30 pm, when all the terrorists were captured or killed.
One terrorist, a Pashto-speaking bearded youth in his twenties, was captured while trying to attack two helicopters at a helipad near the training centre. Two grenades, a walkie-talkie set and a knife were found on him, officials said. Details of the other captured terrorists were not immediately available.
Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Mushtaq Sukhera said 850 recruits were present in the centre at the time of the attack.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said operatives of banned terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Taliban could have been behind the assault, which was similar to the Mumbai attacks last year.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack at the training centre and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Malik also told reporters that the federal government had alerted authorities across Pakistan after receiving intelligence reports on March 25 on possible attacks on government buildings and police facilities. He said an “enemy country or a hostile agency” could have been behind the attack that was aimed at destabilising the democratic forces of Pakistan. M Latif, a recruit who escaped from the centre with a dozen colleagues, told PTI the policemen were busy training when the terrorists stormed the centre and threw grenades and opened fire.
Another recruit said the terrorists stormed barracks and shot at people inside indiscriminately. He said he had jumped from first floor of the building to escape. Dramatic footage aired by TV channels showed several policemen lying on the ground within the centre while others tried to drag them to safety. Dozens of policemen scaled a wall or rushed out of gates to safety.
Soldiers and other security forces surrounded the compound on the outskirts of Lahore, exchanging fire in televised scenes reminiscent of last November’s militant siege of Mumbai.
Security forces fired in the air and shouted ‘Allah Ho Akbar’ as the operation was successfully completed. Television footage showed splattered blood and spent ammunition strewn around on the roof of the building that was under siege. A red alert was sounded in Lahore and other cities across Pakistan after the attack. Deployment of police was increased at sensitive locations in the federal capital and more check posts were set up. Police also stepped up checking at hotels and bus terminals.
A joint investigation team has been formed to probe the attack, Malik said. Lahore has witnessed several terrorist attacks since last year, including an assault by a dozen heavily armed terrorists on the motorcade of the Sri Lankan cricket team on March 3 that left eight persons dead and over 20 injured. Suicide bombers also struck at the Federal Investigation Agency office and a naval war college in Lahore last year.
