4th LD Writethru: Over 20 killed, 109 injured in police training center attack in SW Pakistan  

Over 20 people were killed and 109 others injured in a terrorist attack at a police training center in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Monday night, officials said early Tuesday.

Provincial Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that three terrorists involved in the attack were also killed by the security forces during the four-hour long operation against them. Earlier, the minister claimed that four terrorists had been killed during the operation.

Chief of the paramilitary force Frontier Corps Major-General Sher Afgun said that the operation against the terrorists have been concluded, and now a search and clearance operation has started in the premises of the police training center.

According to Afgun, a group of three terrorists armed with suicide vests, automatic guns and hand grenades sneaked into the center from the backyard after killing a guard at a watchtower at around 11:05 p.m. local time on Monday.

The terrorists occupied a hostel of the police training center and made around 200 policemen hostage in the dining hall of the hostel located at the Saryab Road area of Quetta, capital of Pakistan's southwest province of Balochistan.

"One of the terrorists was killed by the security personnel, while two others exploded their jackets near the captives after they were cordoned off by the army commandos, which caused sharp rise in death toll," said Bugti.

Following the attack, personnel of Pakistani army and Frontier Corps reached the site and cordoned off the training center and launched the operation.

Exchange of intense firing was heard after the contingents of army and Frontier Corps entered the training center and started the operation to neutralize the terrorists.

District Coordination Officer of Quetta Abdul Wahid Kakar also confirmed that 109 injured were shifted from the training center to different hospitals of the city.

The official said that the death toll might further rise as at least 22 of the injured are in critical condition.

An eyewitness police trainee said, "We were sleeping in our room when we heard firing, we rushed out, I saw two terrorists were firing at another room, I ran to the roof of the hostel and from there I managed to come out."

According to police, around 500 to 700 police personnel including trainees and instructors were present in the center when the attack took place.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in all hospitals in Quetta and appealed to the public for blood donations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack and said terrorists cannot demoralize the nation with such coward attack and that the country's ongoing war on terror will be taken to a logical end.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. However, Afgun claimed that the terrorists belonged to a banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi and they were taking instructions from their handlers based in somewhere in Afghanistan. Endit