Taliban Gunmen Attack Karachi Airport Academy in Second Assault in Less Than 48 Hours
By Syed Raza Hassan
Karachi Pakistan June 10, 2014
Pakistan's Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for an
attack on a security academy at Karachi’s airport on Tuesday, less than 48
hours after an all-night siege by Taliban gunmen at Pakistan’s busiest airport
that killed more than 30 people.
The late Sunday assault destroyed prospects for peace talks
between the Taliban and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and
triggered speculation that the army might opt for an all-out offensive against
militant strongholds.
On Tuesday, a group of gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on
an academy run by the airports security force (asf) and fled after security
forces retaliated. No one was hurt, officials said.
"We accept responsibility for another successful attack
against the government," Pakistani taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told
Reuters.
"We are successfully achieving all our targets and we
will go on carrying on many more such attacks."
Ten militants disguised as security force members and armed
with rocket-propelled grenades broke into the airport in the first attack, one
of the most brazen in a long-running pakistani Taliban insurgency. At least 34
people were killed.
1 of 3. Paramilitary soldiers march along a street in a
neighbourhood after a gunfire attack on a security academy run by the airports
security force (asf) in Karachi june 10, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Athar Hussain
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Reflecting an atmosphere of nervousness, Karachi airport
suspended all flights in and out of the sprawling city of 18 million for the
second time in two days, although most flights were restored by 0930 gmt.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistani fighter jets bombed taliban
positions on the afghan border.
"Nine terrorist hideouts were destroyed by early
morning military air strikes near the pakistan-afghan border," the army's
press wing said, adding that 25 militants were killed.
Seven more bodies
The Pakistani Taliban are allied with the afghan militants
of the same name and share a similar jihadist ideology.
But they operate as a separate entity, focused entirely on
toppling the Pakistani state and establishing strict islamic rule in the
nuclear-armed nation, whereas the afghan taliban are united by their campaign
against invading foreign forces.
It was unclear if the latest air strikes signalled the start
of a broader offensive in the north Waziristan region where the al Qaeda-linked
Taliban are based, or indeed if they had been carried out in retaliation for
the airport attack.
The air force has periodically conducted raids to bomb Pakistani
Taliban positions in the lawless, ethnic Pashtun region but has yet to launch a
major offensive.
The semi-autonomous Pashtun lands along the border, known as
the federally administered tribal areas, have never been brought under the full
control of any government.
The Pakistani Taliban, a loose alliance of insurgent groups
united by anti-state ideology, said they had carried out the late sunday attack
in karachi in response to the air strikes on their strongholds.
At Karachi’s airport, rescue workers earlier recovered the
bodies of seven people trapped inside a cargo building, bringing to 34 the
death toll from the first assault.
"The bodies are badly charred beyond
identification," said a morgue official who declined to be identified.
Airport officials said the victims had taken refuge in the
cargo shed to hide from the gunfire but got trapped when the building caught
fire.
"They (security forces) were busy killing militants and
clearing the area, nobody bothered to rescue these trapped men," said
abdul rehman, whose brother was among those killed. "they could have been
saved if timely rescue efforts had been made."
----
(Writing by john chalmers and maria golovnina; editing by
nick macfie)
Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/06/10/pakistan-army-idinkbn0el0ct20140610
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