Armed militants have stormed a police training academy in the southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 55, wounding over 100 recruits, and taking an unknown number hostage.
According to officials, the attack took place late on Monday at the academy, which is home to over 200 recruits, located in the country’s city of Quetta in the province of Balochistan.
"Around five terrorists entered police training center and they have taken police recruits (at) gunpoint," said a senior security official speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Provincial Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti has confirmed the attack, which senior law enforcement agencies said was well coordinated by the assailants who opened fire at the center from five different positions before entering it.
Local media has reported at least three blasts and gunfire from within the facility.
Chief Provincial Minister Sanaullah Zehri said that he had received intelligence reports a few days earlier concerning the presence of militants in the city.
“I am myself monitoring the situation. Our forces have entered the center and soon these terrorists will be eliminated," he added.
A witness told reporters that the terrorists were armed with Kalashnikov guns, "I saw two to four gunman, who were masked, entering the police training center... They started indiscriminate firing inside the hostel," he added.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan has been battling al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and pro-Taliban militants for years, especially after the US-led invasion in neighboring Afghanistan in 2001 and the subsequent spillover of militancy into the region.
In June 2014, the Pakistani army intensified its anti-militancy efforts by deploying some 30,000 troops near the border with Afghanistan to wipe out militant bases in the tribal area and bring an end to the bloody militancy.
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