Injured police cadets, lying in Quetta’s Civil Hospital, recounted the moment gunmen stormed a Pakistan police training college on Monday, opening fire on the trainees based there.
Militant group Islamic State said on Tuesday that fighters loyal to its movement attacked the police training college in Quetta in southwest Pakistan.
Officials said the raid killed 60 people and wounded more than 100.
Pakistani authorities have blamed another militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), for the late-Monday siege, though the Islamic State claim included photographs of three alleged attackers.
Hundreds of trainees were stationed at the college on the city outskirts when masked gunmen stormed in.
Some cadets were taken hostage during the raid, which lasted nearly five hours. Most of the dead were cadets.
One cadet, Abdul Sattar, who was shot in the legs, said his fellow trainees tried to hide.
“We turned off the lights and dived under our beds. We stayed under the beds and the firing continued, volley after volley, two or three times,” he said.
“Then they entered the hostel and hurled grenades and kept firing. They looked under the beds, shone torches and fired on people under the beds,” he added.
Another cadet, Ali Asghar who was hit by shrapnel, said he felt like doomsday had arrived.
A spokesman for Quetta’s Civil Hospital said the hospital received 61 dead bodies, including one of the attackers, and 93 injured people.
