Were sleeping when terrorists attacked, says Quetta survivor

Washington, October 26

Survivors of the deadly attack on a police training college near Quetta recounted their chilling stories of when heavily armed militants stormed into the dormitories in the dead of night and opened fire.

Cadets at a police training academy in Pakistan awoke to the horror of suicide bomb-wielding terrorists in an attack late Monday that killed 61 and injured 117.

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“We were sleeping when terrorists attacked the centre,” said Asif Hussain, a cadet who was in the academy’s barracks at the time, reports CNN.

Hussain said the cadets were caught by surprise and had no guns and were powerless to fight back when the militants struck through the window.

Sarfraz Bugti, home minister for Balochistan province, said three attackers were killed during the assault in Quetta, which targeted a hostel at the academy where hundreds of police recruits were sleeping.

Security forces killed one attacker during the hours-long operation that followed, while two others died when they detonated the bombs they were carrying, At least 260 cadets were rescued during the operation, which lasted through early Tuesday.

Safar Khan, a 24-year-old cadet who was inside his barracks when gunshots rang out, told CNN that the survivors refused to be intimidated.

“We will not bow down before terrorists,” he said.

ISIS released a claim of responsibility for the attack via its Amaq media wing, including a photo of the three purported attackers.

However, Maj Gen Sher Afgan, chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, had earlier said that military officials believed Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was behind the attack.

Spokesman for Balochistan province’s government Anwar ul Haq Kakar, said ISIS’ claim of responsibility was being investigated. ANI