Taliban claims responsibility
June 9, 2014
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for Sunday night's attack on Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, which killed more than 20 people, saying it was in revenge for attacks on their strongholds along the country's border with Afghanistan.
"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," Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman told the Reuters news agency.
The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of Islamist militant groups seeking to topple the Islamabad government and set up a Sharia state, is separate from but allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Security forces back in control
The head of Pakistan's Rangers paramilitary force told reporters at a press conference on Monday that his forces had regained control of the airport after several hours of fighting overnight.
"We have cleared the airport… all terrorists are dead, General Rizwan Akhtar said.
The death toll from the fighting was not immediately clear, with news agencies reporting between 23 and 28 people killed, including the 10 gunmen who had stormed a terminal used mostly for cargo flights. Most of those killed appeared to be airport and other security staff.
Akhtar said seven of the attackers were shot dead by his forces, while three others wearing suicide vests blew themselves up after being surrounded by soldiers.
Hours after the fighting began, smoke could still be seen rising from at least one major fire in the terminal, but civil aviation officials said flights to and from the airport would resume later on Monday.
Incoming flights had been diverted to other airports shortly after the assault began.
Attack on pilgrims
Also on Sunday, at least 22 people were reported killed in a gun and suicide attack in Pakistan's south-western Baluchistan province. The attack apparently targeted pilgrims in a hotel in the border town of Tuftan, where they were staying after returning from a visit to holy Muslim sites in Iran.
It wasn't immediately clear whether there was a connection between this attack and the airport assault.
pfd/hc (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)