Battle with airport security ends with all attackers dead
Print Edition
THE Pakistani Taliban is threatening more attacks after claiming responsibility for a brazen 5-hour assault on the country’s busiest airport in which gunmen disguised as police guards stormed the international airport in Karachi, set off explosions and killed 18 people.
Yesterday’s threats further diminished prospects for a resumption of peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban that officials had hoped could bring an end to the group’s bloody, years-long campaign seeking to overthrow the country’s US-allied government. The insurgency has shaken the stability of the nuclear-armed country, which borders Afghanistan, where international forces have been fighting the Afghan Taliban for more than a decade.
The Taliban said the assault on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and the country’s economic heart, was revenge for the killing last November of the militant group’s leader in a US drone strike
In a phone call to The Associated Press, the group’s spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, warned that “such attacks will continue until there is a permanent cease-fire.”
The attack began late Sunday when 10 gunmen, at least some disguised as policemen, stormed into a section of the sprawling airport where a terminal for VIP flights and cargo is located. They opened fire with machine guns and rocket launchers, sparking a battle with security forces that lasted until around dawn.
Heavy gunfire and multiple explosions were heard coming from the terminal amid the fighting. A major fire rose from the airport, illuminating the night sky in an orange glow as the silhouettes of jets could be seen. As dawn broke yesterday, smoke could still be seen billowing in the air.
At least some of the gunmen wore the uniform of the Airport Security Force, said an official at the scene near the terminal.
All the attackers wore explosives vests, some of which were detonated when they were shot at by the police.
A cargo building was left gutted by the fire and the explosions, said Rizwan Akhtar, the chief of Pakistan’s elite paramilitary Rangers.
Just before dawn, security forces regained control of the airport, and all 10 attackers were dead, Akhtar said. He said some of the attackers appeared to be Uzbeks but officials were still investigating to determine their identity and nationality.
At least 18 people were killed besides the attackers, mostly airport security or other airport personnel, according to Seemi Jamali from Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital.
During the battle, airport operations were suspended and all incoming flights diverted. An Emirates flight in Karachi bound for Dubai had to be cancelled and passengers were escorted off the plane because of the fighting, the Dubai-based carrier said.
The airport reopened late yesterday afternoon and was fully functioning, according to Shujaat Azeem, the prime minister’s civil aviation adviser.
Shahid, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said the attack was to avenge the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the Taliban chief last November.
Mehsud’s death was the last major killing of a militant commander under the controversial US drone program.
The Pakistani Taliban and their allies are increasingly gaining a foothold in Karachi, the site of frequent militant attacks in the past.
In May 2011, militants waged an 18-hour siege at a naval base in the city, killing 10 people in an assault that deeply embarrassed the armed forces.
Meanwhile, the death toll from another deadly attack on Sunday night rose to 24 in the town of Tuftan near the Iranian border. Militants attacked a group of Shiite Muslim pilgrims staying at a hotel.
There was no claim of responsibility, but Sunni Muslim extremists have often targeted Shiites because they don’t consider them to be true Muslims.
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