More than 20 people — including at least two police officers — were killed during an attack on a police training academy in Quetta, Pakistan, a Pakistani official said early Tuesday as he announced the assault had ended.
“The area has been cleared of the attackers,” Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister of Balochistan province, told reporters. About 60 people were injured and three attackers were dead, he said.
One attacker was killed by security forces; two others died when they detonated bombs they were carrying, Bugti said. Two police officers were killed, Bugti said during the assault
It was not immediately clear whether the three dead attackers were among the total number of dead cited by Bugti.
The attackers focused on a hostel at the academy where as many as 700 police cadets live, officials said.
Five or six “terrorists entered the training school and (went) straight to the hostel where they took cadets hostage,” the Pakistani army said in a statement. There were reports of hostages but it was unclear how many or whether any hostages were among the dead or injured.
“The military has been deployed to the location,” the army said as the attack continued.
Two hundred cadets were rescued Monday night, Bugti said.