*Elite army and paramilitary troops battled for eight hours with gunmen who overran a police acadamy outside Lahore, killing 20. At least three of the assailants blew themselves up as troops entered.
By Mubashir Zaidi and Laura King
(NSI News Source Info) Reporting from Istanbul, Turkey, and Islamabad, Pakistan - March 31, 2009: Pakistani authorities Monday blamed Taliban-linked militants for a bloody daylong assault on a police academy outside the eastern city of Lahore that left about 20 people dead, including at least four of the assailants.
Pakistan Army officers arrive during a siege at the Manawan police training school on March 30, 2009 in Lahore, Pakistan. The armed group stormed the academy just outside of the city with current reports of at least 11 people dead. The storming follows the recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team also in Lahore less than a month ago.
In a chillingly methodical strike, heavily armed gunmen stormed the training center as recruits gathered for morning drills. The assailants held off elite army and paramilitary troops for nearly eight hours before finally being overpowered. At least three of the attackers blew themselves up as troops overran their last stronghold, an upper floor in the compound's main building.
Afterward, black-clad Pakistani commandos chanted "God is great!" and fired off rounds of celebratory gunfire.
The audacious attack was yet another sign of intensifying turmoil in Pakistan, considered a crucial U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic militants despite the fact that its year-old civilian government has been struggling to stay in control. President Obama declared last week that quelling the insurgency in Pakistan is key to success in the war in neighboring Afghanistan. He tied continuing U.S. aid to progress in confronting the militants.
The assault on the police compound, which began about 8 a.m., was swift and sudden. Pakistani news reports cited witnesses as saying that the gunmen, some in civilian dress and some in what appeared to be police uniforms, hit the lightly guarded compound from several directions at once, hurling grenades and gunning down police cadets on the compound's parade ground.
After a period of initial confusion, hundreds of army and paramilitary troops, including elite Rangers, were rushed to the scene. The Dawn news television channel reported that a helicopter was hit by assailants' gunfire as it flew in troops, but managed to land safely.
Shortly before 4 p.m., acting Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced that authorities had regained control of the compound. He told reporters later that the attackers were linked to Baitullah Mahsud, commander of Pakistan's Taliban movement.
About 90 people were reported hurt, with many of the wounded spending hours trapped inside as the battle raged around them. Some police trainees said they leapt from windows to escape, or scaled the compound's high walls to get away.
At one point, the assailants appeared to repel an armored personnel carrier that tried to enter the compound. The provincial governor, Salman Taseer, described the chaotic events as a "total siege."
It was the second major attack within a month in Lahore, the cosmopolitan city capital of Punjab province that was once considered a relatively peaceful corner of the country. On March 3, six police guards and a bus driver were killed there when gunmen attacked the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team.
The attack was also reminiscent of the November onslaught in Mumbai, when teams of gunmen hit luxury hotels and other sites around India's commercial capital in a series of coordinated strikes, leaving nearly 170 people dead.
In Lahore, the police trainees who were in the compound as the attack unfolded described an operation almost military in its precision.
"They kept on spraying bullets at us without stopping, and I saw many of my colleagues getting hit, crying out and falling to the ground," said a 23-year-old recruit, Mohammed Atif, who suffered minor injuries.
Throughout the day, Pakistanis were transfixed by live television coverage of the siege, which included images of dead police recruits lying on the ground inside the compound. Footage also showed a captured assailant prone on the ground, being kicked by police before they hauled him to his feet and led him away.
Analysts said the attackers' aim may have been to demoralize the government by humiliating the security forces. Many of recruits could be seen sobbing as they emerged from the compound. Some quit the force on the spot.
"It's very likely this group had perfect knowledge of the targets and knew the operational environment well," said Rohan Gunaratna, director of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore. "They had familiarity with law-enforcement operations and their targets, and studied them very carefully over a period of time.
Zaidi is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Mark Magnier in New Delhi contributed to this report.
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