Pakistan Charsadda: Deadly assault on university

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• From the section Asia

Media captionThe BBC's Shahzeb Jillani said the attackers were heavily armed

A militant gun attack has caused carnage at a university in north-west Pakistan, with at least 19 people dead and 50 injured.

An army official said firing had stopped several hours after the attack but troops were still searching Bacha Khan University campus in Charsadda.

Four attackers were killed, the army said, amid conflicting reports about whether the Taliban were involved.

Taliban gunmen killed 130 students at a school in nearby Peshawar in 2014.

Charsadda is about 50km (30 miles) from the city. About 3,000 students are enrolled at Bacha Khan. 

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

Lecturer shot

Wednesday's attackers struck at around 09:30 local time (04:30 GMT), reportedly climbing over a back wall under cover of the thick winter fog.

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

"I personally heard two explosions," an unidentified eyewitness told Pakistan's Geo TV.

Media captionStudent Aizaz Khan says the security forces showed "great bravery"

"We don't know if they were suicide bombers or grenades. I personally saw two explosions and smoke was rising."

Students and staff ran to find cover in toilets and examination halls.

Geology student Zahoor Ahmed said his chemistry lecturer had warned him not to leave the building after the first shots were fired.

"He was holding a pistol in his hand," he was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

"Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall."

Another student told television reporters he was in class when he heard gunshots.

"We saw three terrorists shouting, 'Allah is great!' and rushing towards the stairs of our department," he said.

"One student jumped out of the classroom through the window. We never saw him get up."

Nineteen bodies were taken to a local mortuary.

Taliban denial

A senior Taliban commander, Umar Mansoor, told media that the attack was in response to a military offensive against militant strongholds. He said four suicide attackers had carried out the attack.

However, the group's main spokesman, Mohammad Khurasani, later told the BBC the Taliban had not been involved. He condemned the attack as "un-Islamic".

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.

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionPeople could be seen comforting each other near the university

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionVictims' families gathered outside a hospital where casualties were brought

Image copyrightA MAJEED

Image captionAt least 50 people were taken to hospital with injuries

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionArmoured cars and a helicopter could be seen near the campus

He saw people coming out through the main gate, apparently because the attackers had entered the campus from the back.

The university is located in an open area some distance east of Charsadda town, surrounded by open agricultural fields, and is therefore a soft target, the BBC's Ilyas Khan reports. 

Bacha Khan is a new university, founded in 2012, its website says.

Just days ago, some schools in Peshawar were closed by the authorities amid reports that militants were planning an attack.