University in Pakistan attacked, 19 dead and several injured

A gun attack on a university in north-west Pakistan, has killed at least 19 people and injured 17, officials said.

Nearly three hours after the attack began, an army official said firing had stopped but troops were searching Bacha Khan University campus in Charsadda.

Troops say at least four attackers have been killed.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a statement: "We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland."

Charsadda is about 50Km from Peshawar.

THE ATTACK

The attackers struck at around 09:30 local time (04:30 GMT), reportedly climbing over the back wall, where a university guesthouse is located.

Intense gunfire and explosions were heard as security guards fought the attackers.

By the time police and Pakistani army commandos had arrived, several students and staff members were dead and dozens of others wounded.

MANY STUDENTS HAD NOT ARRIVED YET

An assistant professor at the university, Dr Shakoor, told the BBC he had turned back from the main gate of the campus after being told it was under attack.

Most of the students and members of the faculty would probably still not have arrived when the attack started, he said.

Dr Shakoor said he suspected the attack might have been targeting a poetry gathering scheduled to honour a Pashtun nationalist leader from the Partition era, Bacha Khan, after whom the university is named.

Most of the people on campus have now been evacuated.

Media are still not being allowed inside the campus due to fears that some gunmen may still be hiding inside.

Nineteen bodies were taken to a local mortuary.

LACK OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Pakistan is on number 6 in the 2016 World Watch List, a report by Open Doors which analyses persecution of Christians.