By IANS,
Lahore : At least eight police trainees were killed and about 150 injured when a group of militants stormed a police training academy here Monday and took dozens of men hostage, media reports said.
Helicopters hovered in the air as crack assault teams took up positions outside the Matawan police training centre in the outskirts of this city.
The terrorists used machine guns and grenades to launch the attack that left eight dead and 150 injured, Dawn News reported.
“Eyewitness accounts estimate some ten attackers carried out the attack, and at least eight explosions have been heard so far,” the report said.
The incident took place between 7 and 8 a.m. as trainees were participating in their morning parade.
The police remain locked in gun-battles with the attackers who remain hidden inside various buildings within the police complex.
Television footages showed policemen lying dead in the parade ground.
DPA quoted a senior police officer, Mushtaq Sukhera, as saying the “terrorists had taken positions inside the training centre and the elite squad are called to the scene”.
He said it was difficult to say how many police recruits were killed and injured.
“Around 850 recruits are normally trained here, but we don’t know exactly how many were inside when the attack took place,” Sukhera added.
An injured policeman told Express News television channel that five to six attackers scaled the boundary wall and opened fire on the recruits as they were attending the morning parade.