Pakistan observed a day of national mourning Thursday for the 21 people killed when heavily armed gunmen stormed a university in the troubled northwest, exposing the failings in a national crackdown on extremism.
Pakistan observed a day of national mourning Thursday for the 21 people killed when heavily armed gunmen stormed a university in the troubled northwest, exposing the failings in a national crackdown on extremism.
Flags will fly at half-mast on all government buildings inside and outside the country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office said, while a prayer ceremony will be held in the capital Islamabad.
Sharif has vowed a "ruthless" response to the massacre and ordered security forces to hunt those behind Wednesday's attack on the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda, where students were targeted with grenades and automatic weapons.
Also on Thursday, police said they caught a man planting a bomb at a crowded bus station in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar.
"We caught a man planting a bomb at Peshawar Bus Stand," senior police official Rokhan Zeb told AFP.
A bomb disposal team safely defused it, he said, adding that some 2,000 people were near the bus stand when the device was found.
"A big disaster has been averted due to police alertness, had the bomb exploded it could have killed and wounded scores of people," Zeb said.
The assault bore a chilling resemblance to a 2014 massacre at a school in nearby Peshawar which shocked the nation and prompted an escalation of a national crackdown on extremism.
Security forces killed all four gunmen in the university attack, which was claimed by a Pakistani Taliban faction.
Among those who died was assistant chemistry professor Syed Hamid Husain who was lauded for challenging the gunmen and firing at them with his pistol while his terrified students raced for cover.
The majority of victims were laid to rest late Wednesday according to Muslim tradition, including Husain who was buried in his home village of Swabi as those who knew him paid tribute.
Sharif said in a statement from Switzerland, where he is attending the Davos forum, that he was "personally monitoring" the situation.
"The countless sacrifices made by our countrymen will not go in vain Inshallah," he said. "The entire nation is united and one against terrorism."
