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At least 17 people including nine security personnel and a civilian, besides seven terrorists were killed when heavily armed militants attacked Karachi airport on Sunday night.
-- Nine security personnel among 17 killed during attack on subcontinent's oldest airport
-- Oil terminal set on fire • Exchange of fire continues
Following the attack, flights were suspended and the army was called in. As per detail, at around 11:15pm some eight to 10 terrorists armed with highly sophisticated weapons barged into Isphani hanger near Pehlwan Goth, Gulistan-e-Johar by destroying the backyard wall with hand grenades. There were unconfirmed reports that the terrorists succeeded in destroying three planes. However, Army and Rangers spokesmen denied the reports in their separate statements.
Army spokesman Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a statement: "All passengers in planes have been evacuated and three terrorists killed."
DSP SSU Waqar told media that three terrorists were killed, who wore black trouser and shirts and appeared to be foreigner. The attackers reportedly entered the airport after killing ASF personals deputed at Fokker gate.
Following the incident heavy contingent of law enforcement agencies including Rangers and Army rushed to the site. The bodies and injured were moved to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and Civil Hospital Karachi.
The identities of four deceased Airport Security Force (ASF) personnel were identified as Tariq Mehmood, Abdul Malik, Fakhrull Hassan, and Muntazar.
Following the attack, all airports across the country have been put on high alert.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has directed concerned authorities to clear Karachi airport from the terrorists. He said all measures should be taken to ensure protection of life of the trapped people at the airport.
On directives of Prime Minister, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif contacted Corps Commander Karachi and DG Rangers over phone and directed them to control the situation.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif condemned the attack and sought report in this regard.
AFP adds: A senior intelligence official at the scene, who requested anonymity, said the total number of militants killed was six and that some were found wearing a light blue uniform. "One of them blew up when he was shot," indicating he was wearing a suicide vest.
The attackers appeared to have entered from at least two sides of the airport, including the hajj terminal and the engineering section close to an old terminal no longer used for passengers.
The precise number of attackers was unclear but multiple officials had earlier placed the figure at around half a dozen, though it is now believed to be higher. The attackers were armed with machine guns and grenades.
The army, the airport security force, police and paramilitary forces have all been deployed at the scene, where gunfire was intermittent.
A paramilitary ranger engaged in the operation said the militants who had entered through the engineering section of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) gunned down security first.
An AFP reporter at the airport said there had been two "huge" blasts indicating more suicide bombers had detonated themselves. Broken glass and used gun magazines littered the engineering section where the first exchange of gunfire had taken place as smoke from grenade attacks began to die down.
Eye-witness Sarmad Hussain, a PIA employee, told AFP: "I heard fierce firing and then saw the terrorists firing at security forces. I don't know a lot more than that. Thank God I am alive, this is very scary."
A police official who did not wish to be identified said an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade had been recovered.
The director of the city's main Jinnah Hospital, doctor Seemi Jamali told AFP six dead bodies had been brought in and the hospital had declared an emergency.
The dead comprised some security personnel and two civilians, and fourteen others have been wounded.
A spokesman for PIA, Mashud Tajwar added that two domestic flights bound for Karachi had been diverted to nearby airports. There has so far been no claim of responsibility for Sunday night's incident but similar raids in the past have been claimed by Taliban militants who rose up against the Pakistani state in 2007 in an insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014

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