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Pakistani Taliban Claim Responsibility for Karachi Airport Attack
The Pakistani faction of the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the Sunday night militant attacks at Karachi Airport that left more than 25 people dead, including 10 militants.
Militants attacked Pakistan’s busiest airport on Sunday night. Gunfire continued at the airport for at least six hours late Sunday into early Monday, a nightlong battle between Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and security forces.
The TTP claimed responsibility this morning. “This attack was the revenge of killing of our leader Hakimullah Mehsud and brutal killings of the TTP’s prisoners in jails,” said TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid. “Pakistan used peace talks as a tool of war. We have yet to take revenge for the deaths of hundreds of innocent tribal women and children in Pakistani air strikes.”
The initial attack on Sunday night involved 10 heavily armed militants, some wearing suicide vests, some dressed as police, who seized control of a terminal in the airport used for cargo or private flights for VIPs and senior government officials. They were carrying assault rifles, grenades and rocket launchers and took up positions near the runway.
Explosions and heavy gunfire rang out across the airport as a battle between police and militants ensured. One of the striking images from the attack was the bright orange glow from a fire that was dangerously close to several jets that were unharmed.
Pakistan Army Rangers/.guim
Most passengers were evacuated to a secure location, but witnesses report that more than 60 were stranded in the main commercial terminal where they waited for several hours. All incoming flights were diverted immediately from the airport during the attack.
Farooq Sattar, a senior member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party that dominates Karachi, was on a London-bound plane as it readied for take-off. The plane was shifted back to its gate, but passengers were not allowed to disembark, which was an anxious wait for the politician.
“I myself called some important officials, saying the main concern of the passengers was: God forbid if they manage to come near our plane – they were already out there on the tarmac,” said Sattar to The Guardian.
Social media played an important role for passengers who alerted their loved ones about the attack. Syed Saim A Rizvi was tweeting from the inside one of the stranded planes at the airport.
Military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa was tweeting live updates from the scene, and confirmed that all ten militants had been slain by dawn on Monday.
The Pakistan government had been negotiating a peace deal with the TTP and other groups, which floundered. This attack is likely to earn criticism for the government in not brokering a deal and for inadequate airport security. It is one of the most shocking militant strikes that the country has experienced since the seizure of Peshawar Airport in December 2012.
“This act of terror is unforgivable,” said Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Pakistan’s defense minister to local television reporters. “The state will give an appropriate response to such cowardly acts of terror. Those who plan and those who execute the terrorist attacks will be defeated.”
In a message on a social networking website on June 9, the military spokesman added that the airport has been handed over to CAA/ASF and would likely re-open at 2:00 PM.
The prime minister’s adviser Shujaat Azeem said that the flights operations would resume at the Karachi airport from 4:00 PM.
However, as per the AFP today, there is reportedly another attack on security checkpost outside Pakistan's Karachi airport, a day after an all-night siege by the Taliban left 37 dead.
"Gunmen are exchanging fire with Airport Security Force (ASF) personnel at a checkpost guarding the airport," an ASF spokesman said. The assault came as Pakistan launched air strikes on a militant-infested tribal district, killing 15 people in apparent retaliation for the Monday assault.
Featured Image: .japantoday
Screenshoots Of Tweets: twitter
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