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Karachi airport attack: 'Gunfire resumes' at Karachi airport as Pakistan Taliban claim responsibility for terror attack
Karachi airport attack: Pakistan Taliban claim responsibility for airport terror attack
(35 minutes later)
Gunfire has reportedly resumed at Karachi airport after an attack by gunmen left 23 people dead and a number of others injured.
The Pakistan Taliban have claimed responsibility for a jolting, deadly attack on Karachi's airport that led at least 26 people dead.
According to AFP one policeman was injured in fresh shooting early Monday. The army had previously said it had retaken control of the airport.
The militant group said it launched the assault in revenge for a US drone attack that killed its leader while a senior official said several of the fighters appeared to be foreign.
This morning the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the ongoing attack.
The attack on the airport and the claiming of responsibility by the Taliban will present another challenge for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose government has been involved in faltering efforts to establish a ceasefire and peace agreement with the militants.
Militants disguised as police officers stormed an airport terminal used for VIPs in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, on Sunday night.
Reports said the attack on Karachi's Jinnah International Airport was launched at around midnight by around 10 gunmen wearing military uniform who shot their way into the facility, located in the east of the port city. Ten hours later, with smoke billowing from the premises, security forces were still conducting patrols to ensure all the militants had been killed or captured.
The attackers, who were said to be wearing bomb vests, threw grenades as they forced their way into Jinnah International Airport. The military said they had killed three of the gunmen and were looking for others.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Shahidullah Shahid, told Pakistani media the attack had been carried out in revenge for a US drone strike last November in North Waziristan that killed its then leader, Hakimullah Mehsud. The spokesman also said it was to protest over the conditions being endured by Taliban prisoners in Pakistani jails.
Several loud explosions were heard and the fighting appeared to be ongoing early on Monday morning local time. At one point flames could be seen close to two passenger jets, but it was unclear if anyone was on board.
Tariq Azim, a spokesman for Mr Sharif, said initial inquiries suggested several of the militants killed were foreign. He said they may have been Chechen or Uzbek.
The attack came amid reports that at least 23 Shia pilgrims were killed last night in an attack on the border of Pakistan and Iran. Officials told the Hindustan Times that the pilgrims’ bus was attacked in Taftan, Pakistan, by suicide bombers and gunmen as it returned from visiting Muslim holy sites in Iran.
He said they had been found to be carrying water, biscuits and dried chick peas. "They were preparing for a long siege and were intending to stay there for some time," he told The Independent.
A picture dated 08 February 2011 shows a general view of Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. Suspected Islamic militants armed with hand grenades and automatic weapons attacked the Jinnah International Airport, killing at least four airport security personnel while two attackers were killed
The main operation to kill the militants lasted up to five hours, but reports said gunfire subsequently broke out at around 9.30am. It was unclear whether this was the result of Pakistani security forces discharging their weapons or something else.
Nearly 1,000 Shia Muslims, who make up about 20 per cent of the country’s population, have been killed in Pakistan in the past two years.
"Ten militants aged between 20 and 25 have been killed by security forces," said a spokesman for the paramilitary Rangers force. "A large cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered from the militants."
The attack in Karachi happened at a terminal not generally used for commercial flights but for special VIP flights and for cargo.
Pakistan's paramilitary force said that at least some of the attackers were ethnic Uzbeks. Pakistani officials often blame foreign militants sholed up in lawless areas on the Afghan border for staging attacks alongside the Pakistani Taliban around the country.
Sarmad Hussain, who works for airline Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), told The Associated Press that he and a colleague had jumped out of a window to get away and his colleague broke his leg.
Reports said three of the fighters detonated suicide vests while the other seven were killed by the security forces.
“I was working at my office when I heard big blasts - several blasts - and then there were heavy gunshots,” he said.
For a number of hours, all Flights to Karachi were diverted to other airports. However, officials said no said no aircraft had been damaged during the attack, updating initial reports that suggested the militants had set fire to some planes.
Dr Seemi Jamali, of Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, said nine bodies had been brought so far to the hospital from the fighting. She said seven of the dead were from the Airport Security Force, one was an employee of the Civil Aviation Authority and another was a PIA worker. At least 14 people had been wounded.
An official who spoke to journalists near the airport said at least some of the militants were wearing Airport Security Force uniforms and all were strapped with explosives.
He said one of them tried to capture a vehicle used by the Civil Aviation Authority and, when a guard shot at him, the explosives strapped to his body went off. The official said another attacker’s bomb vest blew up after he was shot at by security forces.
At least two domestic planes were diverted with all flights cancelled until at least Monday night.
Karachi has been the site of frequent militant attacks in the past. It is the country's economic heart and any militant activity targeting the airport likely would strike a heavy blow at foreign investment in the country.
In May 2011, militants waged an 18-hour siege at a naval base in Karachi, killing 10 people in an assault that deeply embarrassed its armed forces.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday night's attack. Pakistan's government has been trying to negotiate a peace deal with local Taliban fighters and other militants mostly based in the North-west who have been waging war against the government. But the talks have had little success, raising fears of a backlash of attacks across the country.
