Students at the Agriculture Training Institute in Peshawar may be teenagers, but they have brave hearts.
And they proved this when militants went on a rampage at their hostel on Friday morning.
Most of the 400-plus resident students had gone home as the institute was closed for the long holiday weekend.
Those who decided to stay were sleeping in their rooms.
In video footage of the attack, the attackers could be seen going from room to room and firing randomly inside.
Iftikhar Ali (his name has been changed to protect his identity) and his three roommates were woken up by gunshots.
They did not panic.
They did not run.
They decided to wait inside their room and respond according to the situation.
“One terrorist reached our room. He flung open the door and barged in. We quickly grabbed his gun. He [terrorist] was taken aback by the unexpected resistance but then he started to wriggle out of our hold,” the 22-year-old recalled in a police statement recorded after the raid.
“The terrorist had a muscular body. Realising that he would soon wriggle out of our hold, my roommates slipped out of the room, leaving me alone to wrestle with him,” he stated.
“I didn’t give up. I knew that if the terrorist regained control of his gun, I’d be dead,” Ali said. “At one point the terrorist bit me on my left thumb to try and wrench back his AK-47.”
Ali, according to the police report, shoved the terrorist and ran outside.
“Luckily, police commandos reached the site before the terrorist could come out to chase me. They gunned him down before he could react.”
Ali was taken to the Hayatabad Medical Complex where, according to medics, he was discharged after receiving first aid.

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