Police played main role in fighting terrorists at Bacha Khan varsity

ISLAMABAD: There was absolutely no intelligence alert about the attack at the Bacha Khan University, but the terrorists found the police at high alert only a few minutes after they stormed the campus on Wednesday morning. While the army cordoned off the buildings, the police killed four terrorists on the campus.

Seven facilitators were arrested from Charsadda and Peshawar in separate raids of the police and agencies on Thursday.Officials privy to details say that as the encounter was in progress, the handlers were making calls to attackers and reporters using the same phone numbers from Afghanistan.

Officials have denied reports of precise intelligence alerts about the incident. “That any educational institutions in Peshawar could be attacked is the only one alert, circulated in the last 10 days. Nothing more precise than this,” said an official.

For Charsadda, there was no alert to begin with. Instead, the police issued five security advisories to the Bacha Khan University in the last two months, asking for walk-through gates, CCTV cameras, etc. Incidentally, a day before the attack, the DPO visited the university asking the administration to set up a watch tower at the rooftop in order to keep a vigilant eye around.

As far as the Wednesday’s incident is concerned, an unarmed university guard received the first bullet when the militants cut through the barbed wire of the wall, jumping inside the premises to carry out a surprise attack not knowing they will get a matching response.

It was the 15th day of Sohail Khalid as the DPO Charsadda. He got wind of the matter through a wireless message while on his way to office. He rushed to the university where Irfan Ahmed, SHO of the area (Sar Dheri), along with his force was already offering resistance to terrorists, whose target was to get to the science block, where hundreds of students were taking their examination.

The university came under attack around 9:20am and the DPO had taken position at 9:35am, actively leading his force. Sohail is no stranger to terrorists nor do they. In 2013, five suicide bombers attacked his office when he was the DPO Dera Ismail Khan. None of them survived in an encounter, led by the official.

Later, he was among the founding members of Counter-Terrorism Department of KP Police and was credited with the arrest of scores of terrorists, wanted in many high-profile cases.

There was heavy grenade shelling by the attackers and visibility was very low. At one point, he was face to face with the terrorists, as they were headed inside the building facing resistance from the police deployed around.

DIG Mardan Saeed Wazir reached the scene at around 9:45am. The army troops, who were mobilised from Peshawar, reached the university at around 10am. The operation can best be described as well-coordinated. The army cordoned off the building and occupied the rooftop, thus pushing the terrorists down. As they ran downstairs, they found the police awaiting them at the second floor.

According to officials, the science block was the ultimate target of the attackers as there were around 500 students taking their examination, and holding them hostage would have fulfilled the objective of terrorists. However, the police force restrained them from moving beyond the boys’ hostel. It was not without risk either as around 35 students were made hostage in the hostel canteen.