The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/31/09 Section: News

Media Credit: K.M. Chaudary - Associated Press Pakistani police forces react after the recapture of a police training school from gunmen on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, March 30, 2009. A group of gunmen attacked a police academy and rampaged through it for hours Monday, throwing grenades, seizing hostages and killing at least 11 officers before being overpowered by Pakistani security forces in armored vehicles and helicopters, authorities said.

LAHORE, Pakistan - Black-clad Pakistani commandos overpowered a group of militants who had seized a police academy, took cadets hostage and killed at least six of them Monday in a dramatic challenge to the civilian government that faces U.S. pressure to defeat Islamic extremists.

The security forces stormed the compound on the outskirts of Lahore to end the eight-hour siege by the grenade-throwing gunmen, with three militants blowing themselves up and authorities arresting four, officials said. At least three other unidentified bodies were recovered.

Pakistan's top civilian security official said militant groups were "destabilizing the country," suggesting the plot may have originated with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Meanwhile, a Taliban member claiming to speak on behalf of a shadowy little-known group called the Fedayeen al-Islam said it was behind the attack.

Earlier this month, gunmen ambushed Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore, killing seven people and underscoring militants' ability to wreak havoc far from Pakistan's northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan where al-Qaida and the Taliban have proliferated.

Both Lahore attacks followed a crackdown on the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for the November 2008 siege in Mumbai, India, that killed 164. There has been speculation that Monday's raid was revenge for the crackdown.

The primary victims of both attacks were Pakistan's undermanned and underequipped police, a militant strategy that appears designed to expose state institutions as weak.

Continued...

Page 1 of 4 next >

Article Tools