Pakistani forces kill all five TTP terrorists behind military college attack: official

Pakistani forces have killed all five TTP terrorists, including a suicide bomber, after an attack on a military-run college in northwestern Pakistan, a security official said on Wednesday.

The security operation has concluded, and authorities are now clearing the college building to eliminate any potential threat from planted improvised explosive devices, the official said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

On Monday, the Cadet College in Wana in South Waziristan district near the Afghan border came under attack when terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of the college.

Two terrorists, including a suicide bomber, were killed at the main gate while three others entered the educational facility.

Security forces rescued more than 600 individuals, including students, teachers and civilian staff, who were inside the facility and later carried out an operation against the terrorists who were cornered in the college's administrative block, the official said.

Pakistan’s military said the attack was carried out by terrorists affiliated with Fitna al Khawarij — a term used by Islamabad to refer to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan — with support from "their masters and handlers in Afghanistan".

The security official said terrorists attempted a repeat of the 2014 Peshawar school attack, but security forces prevented the tragedy.

On December 16, 2014, six Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists stormed the Army Public School in Peshawar, capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and killed nearly 150 people, including more than 130 schoolchildren.

TTP's Khalifa Mansoor group had claimed responsibility for the attack. Mansoor was later killed in a US drone attack in eastern Afghanistan in October 2017.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of sheltering TTP, which has ramped up deadly cross-border attacks inside Pakistan in recent years.