Lahore police training centre under attack, 22 killed

M Zulqernain

Lahore, Mar 30 (PTI) Heavily armed terrorists Monday
gunned down at least 22 policemen, including eight officers,
and injured 90 others as they stormed into police training
centre near here, barely a month after the brazen attack on
Sri Lankan cricketers in this city.

Lobbing grenades and opening indiscriminate fire, the
terrorists, said to number between 10 and 16, struck the
academy as trainees prepared for the morning drill, killing
guards at the gate and later holed up inside with hostages.

Authorities clamped curfew, called in the Army and
paramilitary rangers who along with police laid a siege to the
sprawling complex where an estimated 800 unarmed policemen
were present.

Helicopters and armoured carriers were deployed by the
security forces to monitor the situation inside, which
authorities described as a hostage crisis.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the suspicion
in the attack was on Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e Mohammad as
intermittent firing and sounds of explosions continued to
emanate from the centre.

While Malik said the attack bore resemblance to the
Mumbai terror strikes, former Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub said
it "is similar to the one on the Sri Lankan team".

"It is the same type of people and same style of
operation," he said.

Prior to the attack, which started between 7-8 am, a
series of at least five blasts were heard at the training
centre at Manawan, located near the Wagah land border.

The explosions were followed by an exchange of fire
between the attackers and policemen that continued for over
two hours.

Most of the casualties occurred near the gate of the
centre when the terrorists lobbed several grenades as they
launched their attack and then fired indiscriminately.

Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Mushtaq Sukhera
told PTI that 850 recruits were present in the centre at the
time of the attack.

Policemen and Pakistan Rangers, including snipers, had
taken up positions on rooftops of buildings adjacent to the
centre, Sukhera said.

Lahore Police Commissioner Azam Suleman said 34 people
have been admitted to the hospital.

"I cannot say anything about the number of dead and do
not want to speculate anything. It is an emergency situation
right now," he said.

An emergency was declared in all hospitals in Lahore and
a red alert was sounded in the city.

Eyewitnesses, who escaped the carnage said that militants
clad in police uniforms and carrying backpacks, had entered
the training centre and took up positions in several buildings
and exchanged fire with the security forces.

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.

A visibly shaken Latif said many recruits, all of whom
who were unarmed, were still inside the centre.

Another recruit named Jehangir, who was injured, said he
had seen about eight terrorists enter the centre and spray
bullets at policemen. "A number of my colleagues fell as they
were hit by bullets. Then blasts occurred. Everyone was
running for their lives and I was hit by a bullet in my left
arm," he said.

Hundreds of policemen, including members of an elite
anti-terrorism squad, surrounded the centre and cordoned off
the nearby area. Police also fired teargas at the attackers as
helicopters were used for aerial surveillance.

Dramatic footage aired by TV channels showed bodies of
several policemen strewn across the ground. Dozens of
policemen scaled a wall to escape from within the centre.

Police used armoured vehicles to bring the dead and
injured out of the centre after rescue workers were unable to
approach them because of the firing.

Lahore has witnessed several terrorist attacks since last
year, including an assault on 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 college in Lahore last year. PTI