Pakistan Islamic university bombed

(MENAFN - Arab News) Twin suicide blasts tore through a university campus in Pakistan's capital Tuesday killing eight people, as the military pursued a major anti-Taliban offensive in the lawless northwest.

The bombing of Islamabad's International Islamic University was the seventh major militant attack in just over a fortnight.

At around 3 p.m. (0900 GMT), two explosions seconds apart rocked a male teaching faculty and women's cafeteria of what is one of the largest Islamic universities in the world, attracting Muslim students from home and abroad. The sprawling university teaches over 12,000 students, half of them female and including hundreds of foreigners, focusing on education that incorporates Islam in modern times.

The university's President Anwar Siddiqui's office told Arab News: "Two explosions took place at a time when classes were in progress."

An intelligence officer did not rule out the possibility of a "rebound" from Imamia Students Organization for Jundallah's suicide attack in Iran during which Pasdaran's Chief Guard Gen. Nur Ali Shustari was killed.

Schools and colleges in the country have closed because of fears about militant attacks, officials said. In Sindh, which is home to Pakistan's financial capital Karachi, the regional education secretary said 50,000 schools and colleges have shut down until Sunday.

"We are in a state of war. They will make every effort to destabilize the country. These so-called Islamists are enemies of Islam and enemies of Pakistan," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

Broken glass and pieces of charred flesh littered the faculty building's first floor, where blood dripped down the stairwell and students stepped through the debris, choking under thick smoke, a reporter said. The first blast ripped through the faculty of Islamic jurisprudence used by male students and the second hit the women's cafeteria, law student Qudrat Ullah said at the scene. "There is panic. Students are rushing to donate blood. There are a lot of police inside the building," he said.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked extremists have carried out a two-year campaign of suicide bombings and commando raids that have killed 2,280 people.

The government made an immediate link between the attack and an offensive against the Taliban, with Malik saying "all roads are leading toward South Waziristan."

Fighting for control of the lawless area is a major test of the government's ability to tackle an increasingly brazen insurgency that has seen a string of attacks in various parts. The army on Monday captured the small town of Kotkai, the birthplace of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on the approach to an insurgent base in south Waziristan, but militants struck back on Tuesday to retake it, security officials said. The army says 90 militants and 13 soldiers have been killed since the long-awaited offensive began on Saturday.

"In the last 24 hours ... 12 terrorists have been killed during security forces operations," the military said in a statement, adding that four soldiers had died and three were wounded. It is not possible to independently verify reports from the battle zone as foreign reporters are not allowed in and it is dangerous for Pakistani reporters to visit.

By Azhar Masood