The Day After: Pak Shuts Down Schools amid Attack Fears

Schools and colleges across Pakistan remained shut on Wednesday, a day after four people were killed in twin suicide bombings at the Islamic university campus in Islamabad. The Taliban claimed the attack and warned of more such strikes unless the government called off an ongoing anti-militant offensive in the northwestern province of South Waziristan along the Pak-Afghan border.

Meanwhile, at least four people died in the South Waziristan town of Kotkai where Pakistani troops, battling for a grip over the lawless region, are reported to be meeting fierce resistance.

Unconfirmed reports citing a Taliban spokesman said 40 soldiers had been killed in an attack on a security post near the town.

The army said the figure provided by the Taliban was inflated and claimed it had killed 90 militants since the offensive commenced on Saturday.

Foreign reporters are restricted from entering the battle zone, local Pakistani scribes have also fled the area.

The attack on Tuesday wounded several students at the university.

Following the attack, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Pakistan was now in what he called a state of war.

The government has ordered an indefinite closure of schools, colleges and universities to prevent them from being targeted by suicide bombers.