Taliban militants disguised as security forces stormed Pakistan’s busiest airport on Sunday and at least 27 people were killed in a night-long battle at one of the country’s most high-profile targets.
The assault on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan’s sprawling commercial hub of 18 million people, all but destroys prospects for peace talks between the Pakistani Taliban and the government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
It also deals a heavy blow to Sharif’s efforts to attract foreign investors to revive economic growth and raises questions about security at the country’s main installations.
Photo: AFP
The attack began just before midnight, when 10 gunmen wearing military uniforms and armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades shot their way into the airport’s old terminal, which is used mainly for charter and executive flights.
Gun battles raged through the night until security forces regained control of the airport at dawn. Passengers were evacuated and all flights were diverted.
The military’s media director-general Asim Bajwa said the airport had been cleared and would soon resume operations.
The government said security was being stepped up at all airports.
“We need to keep extremely vigilant,” Shujaat Azeem, special assistant to Sharif on aviation, said in a statement.
The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of insurgent groups fighting to topple the government and set up a Shariah state, said they carried out the attack in response to air strikes on their strongholds near the Afghan border and suggested their mission was to hijack a passenger plane.
“It is a message to the Pakistan government that we are still alive to react over the killings of innocent people in bomb attacks on their villages,” Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said.
Pakistan’s paramilitary force said that the attackers were ethnic Uzbeks. Pakistani officials often blame foreign militants holed up in lawless areas on the Afghan border for staging attacks alongside the Pakistani Taliban around the country.
The death toll included airport security guards and workers with Pakistan International Airlines.
In a separate unrelated attack, at least 22 Shiite pilgrims were killed in a suicide attack near Pakistan’s border with Iran, a local official said.
A radical Sunni group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Karachi is Pakistan’s biggest city and commercial hub, home to a vibrant stock exchange, the central bank and the country’s main port.
However, it is also a violent and chaotic place where Taliban militants and criminal gangs operate freely underground.
At the airport, gunbattles went on for five hours and television pictures showed fire raging as ambulances ferried casualties away.
At least three loud explosions were heard as militants wearing suicide vests blew themselves up.
By dawn yesterday, the army said the airport had been secured, but heavy smoke rose above the building.
“Ten militants aged between 20 and 25 have been killed by security forces,” a spokesman for the Rangers said. “A large cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered from the militants.”
“A sweep operation is being carried out at the airport, which is expected to be completed by midday,” he added.
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
CONSIDERING OPTIONS: Lai’s office said he regrets, but respects the outcome, and his administration is looking at all legal and constitutional means to maintain democracy The Legislative Yuan yesterday rejected all seven nominees for the Constitutional Court, an expected outcome that could immobilize the court. President William Lai (賴清德) nominated the justice candidates, including the nominees for the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan, at the end of August. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus opposed all the nominees, while Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said his party only approved of National Taiwan University (NTU) Graduate Institute of National Development professor Liu Ching-yi (劉靜怡). The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus opposed the appointment of Liu, but approved the other nominees. As defenders of
Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) faces a jail sentence of up to 28.5 years after being indicted today on bribery charges and other forms of corruption, in connection with real estate dealings during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018-2022. He was also charged for suspected involvement in irregularities in his party's campaign finances during the 2024 presidential election which he ran as a candidate in. Prosecutors are seeking a total sentence of 28.5 years for Ko, comprising 15 years for bribery, 5 years and 6 years for separate cases of embezzlement and 2.5 years for breach of
Parts of the nation, including in the south, could experience temperatures as low as 7°C early tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. A strong continental cold air mass coupled with the effect of radiative cooling would bring cold weather to several northern cities and counties, and could even affect areas as far south as Tainan early tomorrow, the CWA said. Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties would experience temperatures below 10°C until this evening, according to cold surge advisories issued by the weather agency. The weather across the nation is forecast to remain
RSS