At least 20 killed in attack on Pakistan police academy

Pakistani commandos stormed the main building of a police academy to kill four militants and capture three others after they had gone on a killing spree on Monday at the school on the outskirts of Lahore.

"The operation is over. Four terrorists were killed and three arrested," Interior Ministry Secretary Kamal Shah told Reuters. He said 89 policemen were wounded but the number killed was still being ascertained, though news agencies placed the initial number at 20.

The attack came less than a month after a deadly ambush of Sri Lanka's cricket team in the same area.

More than an hour after the attack began on the outskirts of Lahore, the gunbattle was still going on, with army rangers joining the fight, according to officials and live footage from the scene.

"It is a complete panic here. We do not have any idea how many the attackers are, and how many of them are dead, or hiding in nearby buildings," officer Syed Ahmad Mobin told The Associated Press. "We are fighting them."

The attack, which also wounded at least 20, underscored the growing threat of militancy to nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is under pressure by the U.S. to battle al-Qaida and Taliban militants on its soil. Most of the militant violence has occurred along Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan, but its eastern front has not escaped, with Lahore witnessing some brazen assaults.

In early March, a group of gunmen ambushed the visiting cricket team in a city square, sparking a battle that left six police officers and a driver dead and wounded several of the players.

Monday's attack occurred as dozens of police officers carried out morning drills. The attackers triggered a shootout that killed at least eight officers, said police official Mohammed Afzal, who also confirmed the wounded toll.

Lahore police chief Haji Habibur Rehman told Pakistan's ARY news channel that six to seven attackers were believed to be involved in the shooting at the Manawan Police Training Center. He said the police had sought the help of paramilitary rangers.

Television footage showed several officers lying on the ground. At least one crawled on his hands and knees in the nearby bushes. Ambulances rushed to the scene, taking away the wounded.

It was not immediately clear what group might be behind Monday's attack, but the earlier assault on the Sri Lankan team - which featured heavily armed, backpack-toting gunmen besieging a populated area - bore similarities to last year's siege of the Indian city of Mumbai.

India has blamed the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for that assault, and Pakistan has taken several of the outfit's alleged leaders into custody. Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is largely based in eastern Punjab province, has denied involvement in either Mumbai or the cricket team attack/