Pakistan was observing a national day of mourning on January 21, one day after a deadly attack by Islamic militants who stormed a university in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, gunning down students and teachers before the four gunmen were killed by Pakistani soldiers.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the January 20 attack on Bacha Khan University in the town of Charsadda rose to 21 when a geology student who was injured died in a hospital early on January 21.
Flags on official buildings and Pakistan’s parliament were flying at half-staff, and police have increased security at schools across the country, including schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province that defiantly remained open.
Provincial Education Minister Arif Khan said only Bacha Khan University and its sister school, Abdul Wali Khan University in the nearby town of Mardan, were closed.
A breakaway faction of Pakistan’s Taliban took responsibility for the university attack, which resembled the December 2014 Peshawar school massacre by Taliban militants who killed more than 140 children and staff.
