In Islamabad

Suicide bombings kill 4 at Islamic university

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Two suicide bombers attacked the International Islamic University in Islamabad on Tuesday, killing four students and wounding at least 18 others. The bombers struck at mid-afternoon inside a women's cafeteria and a faculty office in the Islamic law department at the school, which is popular with foreign students.

Officials said the attacks were aimed at disrupting the new army operation in South Waziristan and undermining the government's will to curb Islamist extremism.

Shaken and angry students described seeing blood and flesh scattered over the campus lawn. They condemned the Taliban, shouted anti-government slogans and booed the interior minister when he visited the site.

"What the Taliban is doing in the name of Islam has nothing to do with religion, and it needs to be stopped," said Asif Ahmed, one of more than 18,000 students at the school. "Ours is an Islamic university, and it has nothing to do with the secular norms and values despised by the Taliban. We wonder why they kill our innocent friends."

-- Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad