UPDATE - University hostel under attack in northwest Pakistan

UPDATES WITH EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT, PAKISTANI TALIBAN CLAIMING RESPONSIBILITY, INJURY TOLL RISES TO 17

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Three suspected militants were killed and 17 others, including two soldiers, were injured during an attack on a university hostel in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, according to army and police.

Provincial police chief Salauddin Khattak said heavily-armed militants stormed the hostel of Agriculture University Peshawar early morning, opening fire followed by a bomb blast.

Army and police backed by armored personnel carriers soon after rushed to the scene, and launched an operation.

Khattak told reporters that more than a dozen students had been rescued.

Abdullah Khan, an eyewitness, said: "I was inside in my room when heard some gunfire. I came out from hostel and saw two armed young men running towards the residential area.

“I immediately ran back to my room and locked the door. Later, police commandos rescued us from the hostel.”

Khan said around 20 to 25 students were in the hostel at the time of attack.

Footage aired on Geo TV showed an army helicopter hovering over the hostel as militants resisted for nearly one-and-a-half hour. The television channel quoting hospital sources also said that out of the 17 injured, three were critical.

Ambulances were seen shifting the injured, including a journalist to hospitals.

The military in a statement said “all three terrorists” involved in the attack had been killed.

The Pakistani Taliban group -- Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- claimed responsibility for the attack.

In 2014, more than 140 people, mostly students, were killed in a gun-and-bomb attack at an army-run school in Peshawar.

*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this story from Islamabad, Pakistan.