Nine martyred as terrorists storm Peshawar's Directorate of Agriculture Institute

PESHAWAR:   At nine least people including were martyred and  30 others  injured as   terrorists  attacked   Agriculture Institute of Peshawar  on Friday.

The terrorists were killed in a joint operation carried out by the Pakistan Army and local police.

Heavy contingent of police, Frontier Constabulary and army surrounded the campus before launching the operation.  

The area was reverberating with heavy gunfire while a huge explosion was also heard .

Identities of those martyred in the attack were yet to be known.

Inter-Services  Public Relations (ISPR), media wing of the army, announced in a statement that all the  terrorists have been killed.

Seven students, four security officials,  two  watchmen and a journalist  were  among the injured, according to Geo TV.  

Geo News correspondents said  five  burqa-clad attackers reportedly entered the Agricultural Directorate on an auto-rickshaw . 

Peshawar's main University road remained closed for traffic during the operation.

The injured have been taken to Khyber Teaching  Hospital for treatment where three of them were in critical condition, Geo TV reported.

The ISPR said two wounded soldiers were taken to the Combined Military  Hospital for treatment.   

According to Reuters the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan  has  claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan took to Twitter  and applauded the police and army   for containing  damage and concluding the operation.

"Saddened by condemnable terrorist attack in Peshawar this morning. My prayers to to the victims and their families," he wrote. 

Taliban gunmen killed at least 20 people last year in an attack on Bacha Khan University  in Charsadda.

Over hundred children were killed in a militant raid  on Army Public School  on December 16, 2014. 

According to the Global Terrorism Database maintained by researchers at the University of Maryland, there were 867 attacks on educational institutions in Pakistan from 2007 to 2015, resulting in 392 deaths and 724 injuries. 

According to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, at least 838 schools in Pakistan were attacked between 2009 and 2012, killing at least 30 students and injuring 97 others.

 The data available indicate that attacks since 2012 have claimed hundreds of lives.