By IANS,
Islamabad : Two women were killed and 13 injured in synchronised suicide bombings at a university in the Pakistan capital Tuesday afternoon when thousands of students were in the sprawling campus.
The twin bombings at the International Islamic University took place amid heightened security following the Pakistani military launching a major offensive against the Taliban, which has vowed retaliation over US drone attacks. Pakistan has been subjected to a wave of terror attacks in the last fortnight.
Panic spread in the campus when the two bombings took place within a minute of each other.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police Tahir Alam, both were suicide blasts and took place at the boys and girls campuses of the university located in Islamabad’s sector H-11.
It began with a suicide bomber blowing himself at the girls’ cafeteria, packed with students. This was followed by a huge explosion in the Sharia academic block.
Ahmed Hassan, an eyewitness, told Express TV that a man entered the university saying he had to deliver something. He then detonated himself.
The police have arrested a suspect from the site of the blast.
Television images showed shards of glass lying on the floor and blood splattered on the walls.
Eyewitnesses said there were between 3,000-4,000 students present at the time of the blast in the university.
Islamabad’s deputy police chief, Bin Yamin, said four people had been killed but did not specify whether the attackers were among them, DPA reported.
The injured include two male and 11 female students. Four of the injured were in critical condition.
The injured also include foreign students, Dawn reported.
Fearing retaliation by the Taliban fighters, educational institutions governed by armed forces have been shut for at least one week.
Schools and colleges run by the army, air force and the navy shut after an intercepted telephonic conversation between two terrorists revealing a plot to hijack a bus of a renowned educational institution.
More than 160 people have been killed in the latest wave of militant violence, which started with a suicide bombing at the offices of the United Nations World Food Programme in Islamabad Oct 5. Five employees of the agency were killed.
The most audacious attack came on Oct 10 when 10 terrorists in military uniform laid siege to the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least 19 people, including nine raiders, died in the 22-hour standoff. One militant was arrested.
Thursday saw gunmen wearing suicide vests storming two police academies and the offices of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency in the eastern city of Lahore. A car bomber struck a police station in the northwestern town of Kohat. In all, at least 38 people including 11 insurgents were killed on a single day.