Bomb Blast in Islamic University Islamabad

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1. Leonardo
   

   ISLAMABAD: On fourth day of the military operation in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan, two bomb blasts went off at a university in Islamabad on Tuesday that left seven people dead and nearly 30 injured, officials said. Eyewitnesses and police officials said that one attacker struck at a women’s cafeteria of the International Islamic university campus while another bomber blew himself up at the law department of the university. The blast at the cafeteria left bits of flesh splattered on the floor with shattered window panes. The second attack took place in the Islamic law department. At least 29 injured have been shifted to the nearby PIMS hospital in the federal capital where several of them are said to be in critical condition. The injured included 14 girls and four of them are said to be in serious condition. The International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) has more than 12,000 students, nearly half of them women. Students from around the world attend the university, with most taking Islamic studies. Interior minister Rehman Malik said that six people were killed — two suicide bombers, two men and two women while a senior police official Rana Akmar Hayat told the media that seven people were killed and 29 injured. “Seven people, including two suicide bombers were killed in the twin-attacks while 29 got injured. Among the dead is one female”, Rana said at the scene of the attack. “Within seconds, the attacks occurred one after another. There were 3,000 and 4,000 students on the campus at the time of the attacks”, said Shandana Butt, a third year law student who saw the attack at cafetaria. TV footage showed women stained in blood being carried out by security officials and fellow students from the cafeteria building. Security at educational establishments had been tightened in response to the recent campaign of violence by militants. In the run-up to the offensive, militants attacked a police station in Peshawar, a United Nations office and the army headquarters in Rawalpindi and three different police facilities in Lahore on the same day. Before the launch of army operation in Waziristan, it was feared that militants would retaliate by attacking civilians to create panic. The government knee-jerk reaction was to shut down educational institutions in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and several other cities for one week. Pakistani forces launched a ground offensive on Saturday to drive out the Taliban and al-Qaida militants from their bases in a tribal region of South Waziristan. To win support of the tribal people, the Army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, on Monday, wrote an open letter to the Mehsud tribes of Waziristan, saying: “The operation in South Waziristan was not meant to target the brave and patriotic Mehsud tribes, but aimed at ridding them of the elements who had destroyed peace in the region.” “The target of the operation were Uzbek terrorists, foreign elements and local militants”, Kiyani said. The US and other western allies would be uncomfortable over the tactical compromises that Pakistan made with two other Taliban groups in the region controlled by Wana-based Maulvi Nazir, in South Waziristan, and Miramshah-based Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan. Both Taliban groups were blamed for carrying out significant numbers attacks on Nato and US forces across the border in Afghanistan.

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