Pakistani Taliban attack university campus, killing 12

Pakistani Taliban militants have attacked the campus of an agriculture university in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 12 people.

The gunmen, disguised as women, arrived at the Agriculture Institute of Peshawar on Friday. They shot and wounded a guard before entering the campus, said police chief Tahir Khan.

Police and army commandos arrived and cordoned off the campus, Khan said, who added that a blast was also heard from the campus.

At least 35 others were also wounded in the attack.

Police and army troops killed all of the gunmen — who were reportedly three — about two hours into the attack, the military said.

A wounded student, Ahteshan ul-Haq, told Reuters that they were sleeping when “we heard gunshots. I got up and within seconds, everybody was running and shouting ‘The Taliban have attacked.’”

He said that the university hostel usually houses nearly 400 students, but most had gone home for a long holiday weekend and only about 120 students were there at the time of the attack.

Peshawar, which is close to the Afghan border, has been the scene of violence by Pakistani Taliban in recent years.

Back in December, the militants carried out a deadly attack in the city, killing 134 at an army-run school there, many of them children.