New gun battle at Karachi airport

Wednesday, 11 Jun, 2014 0

Flights have now resumed at Pakistan’s busiest airport, which was temporarily closed for a short while yesterday following a second attack by the Taliban.

A day after militants stormed one of its terminals, gunmen on two motorbikes opened fire on a nearby security forces training camp, forcing the airport to suspend flights.

The men fled when they came under fire from Pakistan armed forces. They have not been captured.

The Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility for both attacks. A spokesman told Reuters news agency: "We accept responsibility for another successful attack against the government.

"We are successfully achieving all our targets and we will go on carrying on many more such attacks."

Colonel Tahir Ali, spokesman for the Airport Security Force, said the gunmen involved had escaped.

"It was not such a big attack, two people came towards the ASF checkpost and started firing," he said.

"They ran away after the firing and because we are on high alert, under the standard operating procedure we called in (paramilitary) rangers and the army."

The militants are thought to have gained access to the site via a slum housing area that surrounds it.



 

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Linsey McNeill

Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk



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