Pakistan ends 33-hour siege at cadet college, killing all four attackers

Security forces ended a 33-hour standoff at a cadet college in northwest Pakistan after killing all four attackers who had been holed up inside the campus, officials said Tuesday.

According to security sources, the assailants were confined to the administration block. Around 10:50 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the militants opened the door and tried to escape. Troops stationed outside opened fire, and one attacker detonated his suicide vest.

All four attackers were killed on the spot, ending the security incident that lasted more than 33 hours, a security source confirmed.

Authorities said five people were killed in total, including three soldiers. Nine others were injured, among them two civilians.

During the operation, no student or teacher of the cadet college was harmed, according to security sources.

The assault began Monday, when militants rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the main gate of the cadet college in Wana, South Waziristan, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The blast destroyed the gate and damaged nearby buildings, triggering an immediate military response.

Attackers linked to cross-border groups

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the attackers were trained and coordinated from across the border in Afghanistan, warning that any group found with foreign links would face “severe action with no possibility of pardon.”

Factions previously linked to the TTP and the Hafiz Gul Bahadar network have claimed responsibility under a new name, Jaishul Hind.

On Monday, the Pakistan military said the attackers were in contact with handlers in Afghanistan and “are getting instructions.”

“This blatant act of barbarism orchestrated by khwarij from Afghanistan is in contrast to assertions made by the Afghan Taliban regime claiming non-presence of these terrorist groups on their soil,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

The ISPR added that the militants, belonging to the Indian proxy Fitna al Khwarij, “have once again tried to repeat the barbaric act of terrorism carried out by them in Army Public School Peshawar in 2014.”

Rising militant activity

Officials said Pakistan has seen a rise in militant violence over the past year, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, following the TTP’s decision to end its ceasefire with the government in 2022.