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Taliban Group Claims Responsibility For University Massacre

Pakistani students lights candles for victims at Bacha Khan university following an attack, in Quetta on January 20, 2016. At least 21 people died in a Taliban assault on a university in Pakistan, where witnesses reported two large explosions as security forces moved in under dense fog to  halt the bloodshed. (BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistani students lights candles for victims at Bacha Khan university following an attack, in Quetta on January 20, 2016. At least 21 people died in a Taliban assault on a university in Pakistan, where witnesses reported two large explosions as security forces moved in under dense fog to halt the bloodshed. (BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

A Taliban group in northwestern Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the killing of more than 20 people, including students and professors, at the Bacha Khan University, 25 miles from Peshawar.

A different faction of the Taliban has responded by saying they were “disowning” the Taliban group behind the deadly attack, calling the shootings “un-Islamic.”

The region has been the target of a Taliban insurgency marked by killings and suicide bombings in recent years, though until this week, Pakistan’s army had been credited with a successful crack-down on local violence.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young talks with the BBC’s Shahzeb Jillani in Karachi.

Note: This BBC interview can be heard in the Here & Now podcast or with the WBUR app.

Guest

  • Shahzeb Jillani, BBC correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @ShahzebJillani

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