(AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

QUETTA, Pakistan | Militants wearing suicide vests stormed a Pakistani police academy in the southwestern city of Quetta overnight, killing at least 59 people, mostly police cadets and recruits, and waging a ferocious gunbattle with troops that lasted into early hours Tuesday. About 700 cadets, trainees, instructors and other staff were inside the academy when it was attacked, Bugti said, adding that the gunbattle with the militants lasted for at least four hours. The third was shot dead by Frontier Corps (FC) troops. “They started firing and entered the dormitory but I managed to escape by climbing over a wall.”

Bugti confirmed to reporters that there had been three attackers. He said the cadets had no guns and were powerless to fight back when the militants struck through the window. Islamic State’s Amaq news agency published the claim of responsibility, saying three IS fighters “used machine guns and grenades, then blew up their explosive vests in the crowd.”

Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister of the province of Baluchistan, whose capital is Quetta, said the gunmen attacked a dormitory where cadets rested and slept. “Two suicide attackers blew themselves up, which resulted in casualties, while the third one was shot dead by our troops.”

He added that the militants had been communicating with their handlers in Afghanistan. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but one of the top military commanders in Baluchistan, General Sher Afgun, told media that calls intercepted between the attackers and their handlers suggested they were from the sectarian militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Injured rushed to hospital after attack

Forces rush to site of attack

Police Training College cordoned off

In August, a suicide bombing at a Quetta hospital claimed by the militant Islamic State group and the Jamaatul Ahrar killed 73 people, including many of the city's lawyer community who had gone there to mourn the fatal shooting of a colleague. Northern Balochistan has been home to Afghan Taliban who have long-standing links not only to elements within the Pakistani establishment but also to al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban groups that have since turned against Islamabad. Story highlights Police cadets were sleeping in barracks when militants attacked, killing 61

ISIS says it was behind attack; military officials have blamed another militant group

Quetta, Pakistan (CNN) Cadets at a police training academy in Pakistan awoke to the horror of suicide bomb-wielding terrorists in an attack late Monday that killed 61 and injured 117. Sarfraz Bugti, home minister for Balochistan province, said three attackers were killed during the assault in Quetta, which targeted a hostel at the academy where hundreds of police recruits were sleeping. Previous attacks

Witnesses reported hearing at least three explosions leading up to the raid.
Gunmen attack a Pakistani police training academy in the southwestern city of Quetta, leaving at least 59 people dead and 117 others injured. ISIL - Khorasan Province claims responsibility for the attack.