All students and teachers were safely evacuated on Tuesday from Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan during an ongoing clearance operation by security forces against terrorists hiding inside the educational institute, said security sources.

Sources had earlier confirmed that all cadets were safe but said around 300 people were still inside the college.

Following the rescue of civilians from the incident site, sources said the “operation will now be brought to a comprehensive and decisive conclusion”.

“The security operation will continue until the last militant is sent to hell.”

The clearance operation is being led by inspector general of Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (South), sources said.

“Due to the presence of Afghan militants inside the college, the security forces are conducting the operation with utmost care to ensure the safety of the cadets,” said security sources in an earlier update, adding that the operation will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated.

State-run PTV, citing security sources, reported that at the time of the attack, approximately 650 individuals, including 525 cadets, were present at the college.

Speaking to the media earlier today, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that “three [people] have been martyred” during the ongoing operation, without specifying who they were.

However, he had said at the time that security forces had successfully rescued everyone from the building.

“The terrorists had planned to hold them (cadets) hostage there, but their plan could not materialise. However, the clearance of the area is underway and will be completed in a bit,” the minister added.

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Security forces had killed two terrorists yesterday after attackers rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the college’s main gate, causing it to collapse and damaging an adjacent structure.

In his media talk, Naqvi said, “We are very clear in that that Afghanistan is directly involved in the entire attack.

Noting that the terrorists had been identified as Afghan, the interior minister said the attackers’ “communication with their people in Afghanistan also continued the entire night”.

The minister further said, “I will request my brothers in KP that please do not defame yourselves. We must stand with our country, with our forces who are clearing these terrorists.

“They (terrorists) are trying to defame you; they are trying to take you on board based on their ties, but Pakistan should be the priority for us. Any other country comes later,” he added.

Referring to multiple visits carried out by top Pakistani leadership to Afghanistan, Naqvi said: “The foreign minister, deputy prime minister, defence minister — we all have gone numerous times and presented them with evidence and details on how they (terrorists) are being trained in Afghanistan, how they plan and then come here to carry out attacks.”

He asserted, “We are very clear in this that Afghanistan must stop them under all circumstances. In case of not stopping them, we will have no other option but to deal with the terrorists who are attacking our country.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi today denounced the attack, saying that “targeting innocent students and academic institutions is an extremely cowardly act”.

He noted that a peace jirga has been called by the PTI tomorrow in the KP Assembly to discuss the province’s volatile law and order situation. The federal government and the KP opposition Awami National Party (ANP) will attend the moot, where tribal elders will be present as well.

The KP CM also condemned the attack during his address at a sports event in Peshawar, adding, “We will not be scared by these. We have been facing them, […] we will once again bring peace to the entire Pakistan, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”

3 terrorists hiding inside a college building

Earlier today, security sources said that a clearance operation to eliminate three terrorists was underway at the educational facility.

“An operation was underway to eliminate three khwarij present inside the Cadet College,” security sources said in a statement, adding that it was being reported that all of them hailed from Afghanistan.

Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while khwarij refers to terrorists associated with it.

The security operation will continue till the eradication of the last terrorist, security sources asserted.

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They added that the terrorists were hidden in a building that was located far away from the cadets’ residence. They asserted that the clearance operation was being carried out with great expertise to ensure that the cadets’ lives remained safe and they were not harmed.

The security source said the terrorists were “continuously taking directives from Afghanistan on the telephone”.

Separately, PTV, citing security sources, also reported that “three Afghan khwarij present in the Cadet College have been confined to a specific building of the college, and security forces have the area surrounded”.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said yesterday that the terrorists inside the college were in contact with their handlers in Afghanistan and “are getting instructions“.

“This blatant act of barbarism orchestrated by khwarij from Afghanistan is in contrast to assertions made by the Afghan Taliban Regime claiming non-presence of these terrorist groups on their soil,“ the ISPR had said.

Hailing yesterday’s response by the military, a security source noted, “The Pakistan Army’s soldiers sent two khwarij to hell by taking immediate and courageous action.”

“Terrorists attacking innocent tribal children have no connection with Islam or the prosperity of Pakistan’s people,” they asserted.

It had further said, “These khwarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khwarij have once again tried to repeat the barbaric act of terrorism carried out by them in Army Public School Peshawar in 2014.“

On Dec 16, 2014, Pakistan lived through one of its most horrific chapters. The attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar and the operation to clear out the terrorists unfolded in less than 10 hours, during which 147 people, including 132 schoolchildren, were martyred.

The military maintained that the latest attack aimed to instil fear among the youth of the tribal areas, “who are acquiring quality education at their doorstep to excel in life and achieve a better future for not only themselves and their families but also for their communities“.

Earlier on Monday, security forces killed 20 terrorists in two separate intelligence-based operations (IBO) in KP — eight in North Waziristan and 12 in the Dara Adam Khel district. Another four were eliminated in Balochistan’s Kalat.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities in the past year, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022 and vowed to attack security forces, police, and law enforcement agencies’ personnel.