Five to six armed attackers stormed the police training centre situated on Saryab Road in Quetta late night on Monday and exchanged fire with Pakistan Army and Frontier Constabluary who arrived on the site, said a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The attackers also took police personnel hostage and exchanged fire with the trainees inside and security force officials outside the centre. There were over 500 trainees in the centre.
According to a police official, the attackers entered the centre through the front gate at 11:30pm, reached the hostel hosting over 200 trainees and opened fire. They were also wearing suicide vests.
Around seven injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta and the Bolan Medical Complex. Zehri took notice of the attack. Emergency has been declared in all the hospitals of the city.
Balochistan’s Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti confirmed that terrorists have attacked the training centre.
“Our security forces have the capability to combat such attacks and threats,” said the home minister.
He added that that recently there were 700 cadets present, but a batch passed out a few days ago.
Senior police and army officials were overseeing the operation while Interior Ministry has also established a control room to monitor the situation, and has expressed confidence in local law enforcement’s ability to resolve the incident.
Foreign-funded Baloch rebels and banned religious outfits have been assisting each other in terror operations in Balochistan.
Earlier this year, Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian national, was arrested in Balochistan over charges of spying for the Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency.
In a video, Yadav revealed that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan on the instructions from the RAW since 2013 and confessed of playing a role in deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi and Balochistan. While giving details of these activities, Yadav said:
“These activities have been of anti-national or terrorist nature which resulted in the killing and wounding of Pakistani citizens.”