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U.S. Condemns Terror in Quetta
Suicide bomb-wielding terrorists killed 61 and injured more than 100 cadets in a training academy in Quetta, Pakistan. The United States condemns the terrorist attack on the police training center and extends its condolences to the victims and their families.
The cadets at the academy were asleep at the time of the attack and had no guns with which to fight back. Home Minister of Balochistan province Sarfraz Bugti, said three attackers were killed in the assault on Quetta. More than 260 cadets were rescued during the operation.
Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has strongly condemned the attack on Police Training Center in Quetta and directed the federal and provincial authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible.
Quetta has been the site of numerous terrorist attacks over the years. A devastating attack in August killed more than 72 people and was claimed by both ISIL and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Pakistani Taliban splinter group, designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The police academy itself has been struck twice before by terrorists. In 2006, six policemen were killed in five powerful explosions, and then again, in 2008, gunmen fired rockets into the academy grounds.
Over the years, terrorist groups have targeted educational institutions in Pakistan, especially those linked to state security. In 2014, the terrorist organization Tehreek-e-Taliban perpetrated the country’s deadliest assault ever when it attacked the Army Public School in the northwestern city of Peshawar, massacring more than 140, most of them children.
The United States stands with the people and government of Pakistan at this difficult hour. The U.S. will continue to work with Pakistan and across the region to combat the threat of terrorism.