Pakistan Police Academy attacked: 44 killed.

Pakistani officials have just announced the completion of a counterattack against gunmen who seized a police academy in the southwest of the country, leaving at least 44 people dead.

Pakistani soldiers deployed to Balochistan Police College - Photo: AFP

According to AFP, the attack targeting the Balochistan Police College, located about 20 km east of the provincial capital Queeta, began around 11:10 PM on October 24 (1:10 AM on October 25 in Vietnam time).

Witnesses said they could still hear gunfire inside the school grounds hours later.

Sarfaraz Bugti, head of the Balochistan Provincial Interior Department, told reporters at a press conference this morning (October 25) that three gunmen wearing bomb vests attacked the police academy building. Earlier reports suggested there were "five or six" attackers.

"First they targeted the clock tower and then engaged in a shootout, killing the guard in order to gain entry into the school grounds," Bugti reported.

Bugti also confirmed that gunmen had opened fire, killing at least 44 people and injuring 118. The Pakistani army quickly counterattacked with helicopter support.

This is the third deadly attack this year in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Reuters, citing hospital officials, reported that 48 people were killed and 75 injured in the attack.

Soldiers stand guard outside the scene of the attack in Balochistan - Photo: Reuters

Major General Sher Afghan of the paramilitary frontline cooperative corps in Balochistan, who commanded the counteroffensive operation, said, "The counteroffensive ended about three hours after we arrived."

Bugti said the building inside the school was housing about 700 recruits at the time of the attack. Hundreds of cadets were rescued after the operation.

AFP reported that the counterattack took place in the dark while security personnel set up barricades and ambulances continuously moved in and out of the area near the campus to transport the injured to hospitals.

Witnesses reported hearing multiple loud explosions inside the school.

"I saw three masked men carrying AK rifles. They started shooting and entered the dormitory, but I managed to climb over the wall and get out," a witness, who identified himself as a police cadet, told an AFP reporter.

Balochistan is the largest province in Pakistan, torn apart by ethnic conflict, extremist Islamic violence, and a decades-long separatist insurgency.

Many human rights groups have accused the Pakistani military of using force to suppress nationalists who demand autonomy and a share of the region's mineral resources.

Last August, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization and the Pakistani Taliban's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group jointly claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing targeting a hospital in Quetta that killed 73 people, including several local lawyers.

Pakistan became involved in the fight against extremist Islamic movements after joining the US-led coalition following the war in Afghanistan in 2001.

An injured trainee was taken to the hospital - Photo: EPA

According to Tuoi Tre newspaper