(VOVworld) - At least 59 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in an attack by militants on a police college in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Monday night.

The security operation to repel the militants lasted several hours (Photo: VNA)

Balochistan’s provincial home minister, Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti confirmed five to six gunmen wearing suicide bomb vests killed the guards and attacked a dormitory inside the training facility while cadets rested and slept. Bugti said it was not the final number of injured people.

According to the police, up to 700 police trainees and teachers were stationed at the college when the attack took place. Some cadets were taken hostage.

No group has yet claimed responsibility, but one of the top military commanders in Baluchistan, Major-General Sher Afgun, told media that the Al Alami cell of the sectarian Sunni militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, who have links with the Taliban were likely behind the attack.