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Karachi flights suspended amid new airport attack Karachi flights suspended amid new airport attack
(35 minutes later)
Flights in and out of Karachi airport were suspended on Tuesday after a training camp used by security forces near the airport was attacked. Pakistan's busiest international airport has come under fresh attack by gunmen, less than two days after a team of Taliban militants launched an assault that killed 26 people and destroyed buildings.
The gunfight came just two days after a night-time assault by the Pakistani Taliban killed 36 people and destroyed maintenance facilities. Flights in and out of Karachi's Jinnah international airport were immediately suspended on Tuesday afternoon when gunmen attacked the entrance of a training base used by the Airports Security Force (ASF), located just outside the airfield's northern perimeter.
The attack against the Airports Security Force (ASF) base on the northern perimeter of Jinnah International Airport began in the early afternoon, forcing inbound international flights to turn around in mid-air and stranding fully loaded planes on the runway. Television pictures showed soldiers and ASF forces taking positions in an open area of scrubland that separates the airport from Pehelwan Goth, a notorious slum that police have long claimed is a haven for terrorists.
It began as at least two groups of gunmen tried to enter the facility from two different entrances, an ASF spokesman said. He said he did not know how many attackers were involved or whether there were any casualties. The firefight lasted less than two hours on the northern side of the airport, opposite the terminal buildings and hangers that were attacked on Sunday by an assault team of Pakistani Taliban militants.
Pakistani television stations showed images of security guards rushing to the scene and frantically taking up positions around the facility, which serves as a training centre for airport security personnel. The facility is roughly half a mile from the airport. An ASF spokesman said there had been an exchange of fire at a checkpoint guarding the airport and no one was reported hurt or killed.
"We have suspended all flight operations at Karachi airport and we are evacuating passengers," said Mashud Tajwar, a spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines. The assault came as the army launched air strikes in the country's troubled north-west, killing 15 people and destroying nine terrorist hideouts, according to an official statement.
The assault came as Pakistan launched air strikes on a tribal district, killing 15 people. Speculation is growing that the Sunday night attack on Karachi's airport will prompt Pakistan to launch a major operation to dislodge militants from North Waziristan, an area bordering Afghanistan that has become a sanctuary for a host of terrorist groups.
It was unclear if the latest air strikes signalled the start of a broader offensive in the North Waziristan region where the al Qaida-linked Pakistani Taliban are based. Also on Tuesday, airport authorities found an additional seven dead bodies in one of the burned out buildings that was attacked on Sunday, bringing the death toll to a total of 36, including the 10 Taliban attackers.
The air force has periodically conducted brief raids to bomb Pakistani Taliban positions in past months but has yet to launch a major offensive.