Pakistan Closes Schools, Colleges After Twin Bombings

Source: Bloomberg

By Khaleeq Ahmed and Ed Johnson

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan closed all schools and colleges for five days after two suicide bombers killed five people at a university in the capital amid an army offensive against Taliban guerrillas.

Campuses will remain shut until Oct. 25 following the attack in Islamabad. “Educational institutions under the federal government are all closed,” Atiq-ur-Rehman, spokesman for the Education Ministry, said in a phone interview from Islamabad today. Those run by provincial administrations and private institutions “have independently taken the decision” not to open.

The attacks at the International Islamic University in southern Islamabad yesterday came as the army pressed on with its largest offensive against Taliban militants near the Afghan border. Pakistan is in a “state of war,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said as he visited students wounded in the bombing, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported. He summoned a meeting with the heads of all educational institutions in Islamabad to discuss the threat posed by militants and how to improve security.

While Islamic extremists have bombed many foreign and Pakistani institutions in recent years, yesterday’s attack was the first at a major university amid the jihadists’ battle with the state. The sprawling government-run university has 18,000 students, 1,500 of them foreign.

The attacks targeted a cafeteria used by women students and a men’s hostel, Islamabad’s chief of police, Bin Yamin, said in an interview. The twin suicide blasts, which came within minutes of each other, killed three women and two men, APP reported.

Waziristan Offensive

As many as 28,000 soldiers in three columns entered the mountainous jihadist stronghold of South Waziristan at the weekend after seven terrorist attacks in a week killed about 150 people. They are seeking to destroy the Taliban faction that was led by Baitullah Mehsud until his death in a U.S. missile strike in August. Pakistan blames the group for 80 percent of terrorist attacks in the country and the army offensive has triggered concern of retaliatory bombings.

The army said yesterday in a statement it had killed 12 militants in South Waziristan in the past 24 hours, while four soldiers died. Troops recovered arms and suicide vests, it said, and secured strategic positions at Spinkai and Kaskai.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said two days ago that 78 guerrillas and nine soldiers had died since ground and air attacks began on Oct. 16. Accounts of the fighting couldn’t be confirmed as Pakistan bars foreigners from the tribal areas and local journalists have been forced out by the government and Taliban.

Eight Weeks

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he is “encouraged” by the army offensive in a region the Taliban used as a base to attack American troops across the border in Afghanistan.

“The terrorist attacks that have been launched inside Pakistan in recent days made clear the need to begin to deal with this problem,” Gates told reporters yesterday en route to meetings in Tokyo. “We obviously are very supportive of what the Pakistanis are doing. But it’s very early yet.”

The Waziristan offensive is Pakistan’s biggest against the Taliban and its allies, who have mounted increasing attacks on government targets since mid-2007 including this month’s assault on the army’s headquarters. The military has said it expects to complete the offensive in six to eight weeks.

To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad atkqayum@bloomberg.net; Ed Johnson in Sydney atejohnson28@bloomberg.net.