Pakistan Taliban strikes at Islamic university
Updated
Schools and colleges in Pakistan have closed due to fears of further militant attacks, after seven people were killed and 12 injured in two suicide bombings. The attacks took place at the Islamic University on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad.
Authorities in southern Sindh province, home to the country's biggest city Karachi, have closed 50,000 schools and colleges until Sunday. The Taliban which is fighting a Pakistani military offensive in south Waziristan, has vowed to strike again.
Presenter: Sally Sara, South Asia correspondent
Speakers: Faheem Beyg and Shokut Ahmed , students; Waris Sheikh, father of a student injured in the latest attack
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SALLY SARA: This is the one place that many students thought they were safe. The Islamic University is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. But it was hit by a double suicide attack.
One bomber struck in a women's cafeteria, the other climbed to the first floor of the Islamic Law Department and blew himself up.
FAHEEM BEYG: It was very much frightening. You know, when the blast happened we saw towards the sky and it became dark, it became just like a yellowish colour and definitely, really, it was astonishing and it was frightening.
SALLY SARA: Student Faheem Beyg says many of his classmates can't understand why the terrorists would target an Islamic place of learning.
FAHEEM BEYG: They are killing their brothers. We are their brothers, we are their children and they are killing us. We are here because we are here to study. They are inhuman I think. They are unbelievable what they are doing, what the hell they are doing?
SALLY SARA: This is the first terrorist attack since the launch of a major Pakistani military offensive against the Taliban in the tribal region of south Waziristan on the weekend. The Taliban have warned they will retaliate with more bloodshed across the country.
Security forces have been on high alert. Many schools and colleges had been closed in Islamabad during the past two days because of specific intelligence information they may be targeted.
But student Shokut Ahmed says he won't be frightened away from his studies.
SHOKUT AHMED: Here in (inaudible) we will keep studying and we will not concede. We are not afraid of them. We will fight with them by studying, by knowledge.
SALLY SARA: The battle between the Taliban and the Government is intensifying. The Government admits its troops are making slow progress in the rugged terrain of south Waziristan. The operation could take up to eight weeks.
Every day it goes on the tension and danger increase.
Waris Sheikh is the father of a student injured in the latest attack. He wants the military to abandon its offensive in south Waziristan.
WARIS SHEIKH: Surely it should be stopped otherwise we will be killed for America and for other NATO countries. This is not the opinion of the people to do this attack. This is the opinion of the Government.
SALLY SARA: The Interior Minister Rehman Malik arrived at the scene of the latest blast, but he received an angry reception from students who say the Government is failing to protect its citizens from terrorism.
(Sound of angry crowd)
Mr Malik only stayed for a few minutes before he was forced to flee. Students threw dirt and bricks at his convoy as he left.
This is the kind of pressure the Pakistani Government is facing. Citizens are demanding an end to terrorism and they expect the Government to make it happen.
