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    ลำดับตอนที่ #6 : Deadly assault on Pakistan university

    • อัปเดตล่าสุด 20 ม.ค. 59


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    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35359072


      20 January 2016


    Pakistan Charsadda: 

    Deadly assault on university

    Security forces have ended a gun and bomb attack on a university in north-west Pakistan in which 19 people were killed and 50 injured.

    Four suspected attackers also died in a battle that lasted nearly three hours at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

    There are conflicting reports about whether Pakistan Taliban militants carried out the assault.

    The group killed 130 students at a school in the city of Peshawar, 50km (30 miles) from Charsadda, in 2014.

    About 3,000 students are enrolled at Bacha Khan but hundreds of visitors were also expected on Wednesday for a poetry event.

    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."


    It could have been much worse - M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad

    There have been conflicting claims about who could be involved in the attack, especially given a kaleidoscopic mix of militant networks that is evolving along the Pakistan-Afghan border region in the north.

    The attack comes amid a sudden spike in militant violence in Pakistan, after a year of relative peace and quiet largely attributed to a 2014 military operation against militant sanctuaries in Waziristan. Questions are now being raised over whether that operation really destroyed the ability of militants to regroup and strike at will.

    The attack is reminiscent of the December 2014 attack on a school in Peshawar in which more than 150 people, mostly schoolboys, were killed. But damage to life and property this time has been much less, mainly due to swift action by the local police, but also because of the fact that the university had its own team of more than 50 trained security guards on duty who first confronted the attackers.

    A dense fog that reduced visibility to less than 10m may also have been a factor, as one police officer explained, because it put the attackers at a disadvantage against the university guards who knew the premises better.


    Lecturer shot

    "The operation is over and the university has been cleared," Pakistani army spokesman Gen Asim Bajwa told Reuters news agency. "Four gunmen have been killed."

    The attackers struck at around 09:30 local time (04:30 GMT), apparently 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.

     

    "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."

    Images from inside the university show a pool of blood on the floor of a dormitory and the charred corpses of two alleged militants lying on a staircase.

    Grieving relatives gathered at a hospital as the bodies of victims were placed in coffins.

    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.

    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.


    VOCABULARY

    militants (adj.)

    active, ​determined, and often ​willing to use ​force:

     

    assault. (n.)

     a ​violent attack:

     

    commitment (n.)

     a ​willingness to give ​your time and ​energy to something that you ​believe in, or a ​promise or ​firm decisionto do something:

     

    wipe out

    to ​lose control, ​especially in a ​vehicle, and have an ​accident:

     

    menace  (n.)

    something that is ​likely to ​cause harm

     a ​dangerous quality that makes you ​think someone is going to do something ​bad:

     

    amid

    in the ​middle of or ​surrounded by:

     

    spike  (n.)

     a ​narrow, ​thin shape with a ​sharp point at one end, or something, ​especially a ​piece of ​metal, with this ​shape:

     

    attribute (n.)

    a ​quality or ​characteristic that someone or something has:

     

    sanctuaries (n.)

     protection or a ​safe place, ​especially for someone or something being ​chased or ​hunted:

     

     

     strike (v.)

    to ​refuse to ​continue working because of an ​argumentwith an ​employer about ​working conditions, ​pay levels, or ​job losses:

     

    reminiscent  (v.)

     to ​talk or write about past ​experiences that you ​rememberwith ​pleasure:

     

    property  (n.)

     an ​object or ​objects that ​belong to someone:

     a ​building or ​area of ​land, or both together:

     

    swift  (adj.)

    happening or ​moving quickly or within a ​short time, ​especially in a ​smooth and ​easy way:

     

    confronted  (v.)

    to ​face, ​meet, or ​deal with a ​difficult situation or ​person:

     

    dense  (adj.)

    having ​parts that are ​close together so that it is ​difficult to go or ​see through:

     

    premises  (n.)

    the ​land and ​buildings owned by someone, ​especially by a ​company or ​organization:

    Syn , Residence

     

    Intense  (adj.)

    extreme and ​forceful or (of a ​feeling) very ​strong:

     Intense ​people are very ​serious, and usually have ​strongemotions or ​opinions:

     

    examination (n.)

    the ​act of ​looking at or ​considering something ​carefully in ​order to ​discover something:

     

    pistol (n.)

     a ​small gun that is ​held in and fired from one ​hand:

     

    flee  (v.)

    to ​escape by ​running away, ​especially because of ​danger or ​fear:

     to ​quickly go to another ​country in ​order to ​escape from something or someone:

     

    charred (adj.)

    burned and ​black:

     

    corpses (n.)

    a ​dead body, usually of a ​person

     

    alleged  (v.)

    to say that someone has done something ​illegal or ​wrongwithout giving ​proof:

     

    Grieving

    feeling very ​sad because someone has ​died:

     

    coffins. (n.)

    a ​long box in which the ​body of a ​dead person is ​buried or ​burned

     

    strongholds.

    a ​building or ​position that is ​strongly defended:

     a ​place or ​area where a ​particular belief or ​activity is ​common:

     

    condemned (adj.)

    A condemned ​person is someone who is going to be ​killed, ​especially as a ​punishment for having ​committed a very ​serious crime, such as ​murder.

     

     

    faculty (n.)

    a ​natural ability to ​hear, ​see, ​think, ​move, etc.:

     a ​special ability to do a ​particular thing:

     

    apparently  (adv,)

    used to say you have ​read or been told something ​althoughyou are not ​certain it is ​true:

     used when the ​real situation is different from what you ​thought it was:

     

    authorities (n.)

    the ​moral or ​legal right or ​ability to ​control

    a ​group of ​people with ​official responsibility for a ​particular area of ​activity

    the ​group of ​people with ​official legal power to make ​decisions or make ​people obey the ​laws in a ​particular area, such as the ​police or a ​local government department:

     

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