Escalation. “Pakistan: Army fights militants after storming police academy,” from AdnKronos International, March 30:
Lahore, 30 March (AKI) – Militants on Monday killed at least 25 people and injured scores of others after attacking a police training academy in the Pakistani city of Lahore using grenades and rifles. Between eight and 14 militants are said to be holed up inside the academy.
Pakistan’s Dawn News TV said over 400 police recruits are being held hostage inside the academy and that snipers and sharpshooters have surrounded the training school.
The governor of the Punjab province Salman Taseer has said the Pakistani army has joined the gunbattle against the gunmen and have laid siege to the academy.
The militants are said to be wearing plain clothes and masks while others are said to have entered the academy wearing police uniforms. One gunman has been arrested, Dawn said.
Police have cordoned off the area and security has been put on high alert across the country. A curfew has also been imposed in the area.
Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik said involvement of foreign jihadi outfits cannot be ruled out and added that Uzbeks have entered Lahore from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas….