Karachi, 10th, June 2014
Taliban gunmen attacked a security post outside Pakistan’s Karachi airport today, a day after an all-night siege by the militants left 37 dead and shredded a tentative peace process.
The latest assault on the airport raised further questions about the authorities’ ability to secure key facilities in the face of a resurgent enemy, and came as air force jets pounded suspected militant hideouts in the northwest, killing 25 people.
The attack on the security post targeted an entry point to an Airport Security Force camp, 500 metres from the airport’s main premises, and around a kilometre from the passenger terminal.
Police, paramilitary rangers and army all raced to the site but officials reported there had been no casualties and they had not traded fire with the militants. “Two people came towards the ASF (Airport Security Force) checkpost and started firing,” Colonel Tahir Ali, a spokesman for the force told reporters. “Nobody has been killed or injured,” he added.
Army spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa confirmed the incident was over, but said three to four assailants were involved. “3-4 terrorists fired near ASF camp, ran away. No breach of fence, no entry. Chase is on, situation under control,” he tweeted.
Flights resumed after temporarily being suspended for the second time in as many days, Abid Qaimkhani, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, told AFP.
A senior rangers official at the scene who wished to remain anonymous said the gunmen may have fled to a nearby shanty settlement. “We are chasing them, we will get them, its not easy to hide here, there are no buildings, no population except for two small shanty towns nearby,” he told AFP.
The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they were in response to air strikes in the tribal areas. “Today’s attack on ASF (Airport Security Force) in Karachi is in response to the bombardment on innocent people in Tirah Valley and other tribal areas. We will continue such attacks,” spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said, referring to Pakistani air strikes of suspected militant hideouts.
Pakistan entered into talks with the Taliban in February and agreed upon a ceasefire in March, which broke down a month later.
15 militants dead in airstrikes
PESHAWAR: The Pakistani army said on Tuesday it carried out airstrikes in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing at least 15 militants.
An army statement says the air raids on Tuesday morning pounded nine hideouts of the militants in the Tirah Valley of the Khyber tribal region. The area is part of a lawless terrain along the Afghan border that is home to a mix of local militants and al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters. — AP
Who are the attackers?
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, was formed in 2007 when various militant groups already operating in the country’s northwest banded together.
The group aims to overthrow the government and impose a hard-line form of Islam. It also has called on the government to pull all troops from tribal areas bordering Afghanistan where many of the militant groups are based. The TTP is loosely affiliated with the Afghan Taliban, which is fighting U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, and shares similar ideology, but it has a different leadership structure. The TTP focuses its fight in Pakistan. AP :
