KARACHI:
Flight operations at Karachi’s international airport resumed after 16
hours on Monday afternoon after all 10 terrorists were killed in a joint
operation by the security forces while the authorities confirmed the
martyrdom of 19 persons, including 10 security personnel, and injuries
to around 26 others.
However, seven employees of a private cargo service at the Karachi airport were still trapped inside a cold storage on Monday night. According to an ISPR statement, the army has launched an operation to rescue them.
According to the Jinnah Hospital administration, the martyred included ASF personnel Tariq Mehmood 32, Abdul Maalik 30, Muhammad Sarwar 45, Muhammad Hayat 40, Muhammad Azam 35, Muhammad Iqbal 35, Hafeez 32, Irfan 25, Ghulam Murtaza 30, Tanveer Anwar Khan 40, Islam-ud-Din 32, personnel of Pakistan Rangers Sindh Dil Murad Ali 35, PIA employees Muntazir 45, Fakhrul Hassan 30, Muzaffaral Hassan 30, Fazal Mehmood Zuberi 52, Syed Muhammad Ilyas 50, employee of Shaheen Airline Abdul Khaleeq Siddiqui 65. One of the deceased had not yet been identified.
The injured include ASF personnel Asad 22, Rajab Ali 40, Pervez 45, Faheem 26, Naseer Ahmed 35, Abid Hussain 35, Munawar Khan 35, Hafeez 35, Yousuf 45, Sikandar 35, Shabab Hussain 32, Muhammad Qasim 50, Muhammad Jamal 26, Ghulam Mustafa Shah 29, Rana Muhammad Afzal 22, Akhtar Hussain 45, PIA employees Ahmed Sheikh 45, Khawaja Muhammad Hassan 59, Special Security Unit (SSU) policeman Nisar Ahmed 28, police constables Naveed and Liaquat Ali 30, Pakistan Rangers Sindh personnel Zawar Ahmed 28, Ikramullah, Muhammad Imran 27, Muhammad Aqil and Faizullah.
The operation clean-up at the airport, headed by Corps Commander Karachi Lt. Gen. Sajjad Ghani, DG Rangers Rizwan Akhtar and IGP Sindh Iqbal Mehmood, started at 11:45 pm on Sunday night and ended at 4:30am after 10 heavily armed terrorists donning suicide vests and carrying Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades entered the airport and held hundreds of PIA and CAA personnel hostage at gunpoint.
Army contingents, including Special Services Group (SSG) commandos, also assisted the police and Rangers in the battle, officials said.DG Rangers Sindh Major General Rizwan Akhtar on Monday morning announced the completion of the operation, saying all 10 heavily armed militants had been killed.
Talking to newsmen, he said the terrorists killed in the operation appeared to be Uzbeks, but DNA tests would ascertain their identity.He said no aircraft was either destroyed or damaged in the attack. He said fire erupted at some places when the terrorists used hand grenades and other inflammable material.
DIG East Karachi Police Munir Shaikh said terrorists attacked the airport at 11:10pm with plans to take hostages and keep control of the airport for a long period but security forces immediately launched a counter attack and completed the operation in five to six hours by killing all the terrorists.
“The police and Rangers along with the ASF launched the airport was handed over to the CAA on Monday for flight operations,” DIG East Munir Shaikh told The News.He said terrorists entered the airport premises in two groups and took positions at Ispahani Hanger and International Cargo terminal.
“Terrorists didn’t appear to be Pakistanis and their features show they are citizens of some Central Asian country. They were carrying several AK-47 assault rifles, RPGs, rifle-grenades, hand-grenades and home-made bombs. Their backpacks also carried dates, water and militant literature,” he informed.
He said militants were also wearing suicide vests and some of them blew themselves up when they were encircled and besieged by the security personnel, causing some casualties and injuries to police and the Rangers.
He said terrorists had held at least 300 staff members of PIA and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as well as the staff of some other airlines hostage and after locking them in some rooms deployed some of their members as guard to prevent them from escaping.
“When the police, Rangers and ASF reached there to confront the terrorists, terrorists guarding the hostages joined the battle and were either killed or they blew themselves up during the fight,” DIG East added.
He said DG Rangers and IGP Sindh Iqbal Mehmood were jointly commanding the operation on the ground while he (DIG East), SSP East Pir Muhammad Shah and SSP Malir Rao Anwar as well as several SPs, DSPs and Jawans took part in the operation.
DIG East said one of the police personal, who was the gunman of SSP East Pir Muhammad Shah, embraced martyrdom and two others including SSP East were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near their APC at the airport during the clean-up operation.
Bodies of 10 terrorists, including one in pieces, were brought to JPMC mortuary, MLO Dr. Rohina said, adding that post-mortem examination of the bodies was yet to be performed.Meanwhile, PIA flights from Jinnah International Airport resumed at 1600 hours on Monday, a PIA spokesman said.
Around 20 flights were disturbed due to the terrorist attack. One domestic flight was diverted to Nawab Shah while three flights coming from abroad were diverted to Lahore. The passengers of the diverted flights were well looked after at Nawab Shah and Lahore.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem said Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had commended the bravery of security forces for containing and eliminating terrorists attack.
Shujaat personally supervised the resumption of flight operations at Jinnah International Airport and visited all areas of Karachi airport along with DG CAA, Air Marshal (R) Muhammad Yousaf and DG ASF Brigadier Muhammad Azam Tiwana.
Security has been increased to the highest level at all airports.In a condolence message, Shujaat Azeem expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the killing of PIA engineers during the terrorist attack.
“The entire PIA family is deeply saddened at the loss of four employees of PIA Engineering — Fakhir Laghari, S.M Ilyas, Tanveer A Khan and Fazal Zuberi. May Allah Grant them eternal peace and strength to the family members of the departed souls”.
“Our prayers go out for the speedy recovery of all injured. We are grateful for the patience and discipline shown by the passengers present at the airport which helped in the success of the operation”, he said.
However, seven employees of a private cargo service at the Karachi airport were still trapped inside a cold storage on Monday night. According to an ISPR statement, the army has launched an operation to rescue them.
According to the Jinnah Hospital administration, the martyred included ASF personnel Tariq Mehmood 32, Abdul Maalik 30, Muhammad Sarwar 45, Muhammad Hayat 40, Muhammad Azam 35, Muhammad Iqbal 35, Hafeez 32, Irfan 25, Ghulam Murtaza 30, Tanveer Anwar Khan 40, Islam-ud-Din 32, personnel of Pakistan Rangers Sindh Dil Murad Ali 35, PIA employees Muntazir 45, Fakhrul Hassan 30, Muzaffaral Hassan 30, Fazal Mehmood Zuberi 52, Syed Muhammad Ilyas 50, employee of Shaheen Airline Abdul Khaleeq Siddiqui 65. One of the deceased had not yet been identified.
The injured include ASF personnel Asad 22, Rajab Ali 40, Pervez 45, Faheem 26, Naseer Ahmed 35, Abid Hussain 35, Munawar Khan 35, Hafeez 35, Yousuf 45, Sikandar 35, Shabab Hussain 32, Muhammad Qasim 50, Muhammad Jamal 26, Ghulam Mustafa Shah 29, Rana Muhammad Afzal 22, Akhtar Hussain 45, PIA employees Ahmed Sheikh 45, Khawaja Muhammad Hassan 59, Special Security Unit (SSU) policeman Nisar Ahmed 28, police constables Naveed and Liaquat Ali 30, Pakistan Rangers Sindh personnel Zawar Ahmed 28, Ikramullah, Muhammad Imran 27, Muhammad Aqil and Faizullah.
The operation clean-up at the airport, headed by Corps Commander Karachi Lt. Gen. Sajjad Ghani, DG Rangers Rizwan Akhtar and IGP Sindh Iqbal Mehmood, started at 11:45 pm on Sunday night and ended at 4:30am after 10 heavily armed terrorists donning suicide vests and carrying Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades entered the airport and held hundreds of PIA and CAA personnel hostage at gunpoint.
Army contingents, including Special Services Group (SSG) commandos, also assisted the police and Rangers in the battle, officials said.DG Rangers Sindh Major General Rizwan Akhtar on Monday morning announced the completion of the operation, saying all 10 heavily armed militants had been killed.
Talking to newsmen, he said the terrorists killed in the operation appeared to be Uzbeks, but DNA tests would ascertain their identity.He said no aircraft was either destroyed or damaged in the attack. He said fire erupted at some places when the terrorists used hand grenades and other inflammable material.
DIG East Karachi Police Munir Shaikh said terrorists attacked the airport at 11:10pm with plans to take hostages and keep control of the airport for a long period but security forces immediately launched a counter attack and completed the operation in five to six hours by killing all the terrorists.
“The police and Rangers along with the ASF launched the airport was handed over to the CAA on Monday for flight operations,” DIG East Munir Shaikh told The News.He said terrorists entered the airport premises in two groups and took positions at Ispahani Hanger and International Cargo terminal.
“Terrorists didn’t appear to be Pakistanis and their features show they are citizens of some Central Asian country. They were carrying several AK-47 assault rifles, RPGs, rifle-grenades, hand-grenades and home-made bombs. Their backpacks also carried dates, water and militant literature,” he informed.
He said militants were also wearing suicide vests and some of them blew themselves up when they were encircled and besieged by the security personnel, causing some casualties and injuries to police and the Rangers.
He said terrorists had held at least 300 staff members of PIA and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as well as the staff of some other airlines hostage and after locking them in some rooms deployed some of their members as guard to prevent them from escaping.
“When the police, Rangers and ASF reached there to confront the terrorists, terrorists guarding the hostages joined the battle and were either killed or they blew themselves up during the fight,” DIG East added.
He said DG Rangers and IGP Sindh Iqbal Mehmood were jointly commanding the operation on the ground while he (DIG East), SSP East Pir Muhammad Shah and SSP Malir Rao Anwar as well as several SPs, DSPs and Jawans took part in the operation.
DIG East said one of the police personal, who was the gunman of SSP East Pir Muhammad Shah, embraced martyrdom and two others including SSP East were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near their APC at the airport during the clean-up operation.
Bodies of 10 terrorists, including one in pieces, were brought to JPMC mortuary, MLO Dr. Rohina said, adding that post-mortem examination of the bodies was yet to be performed.Meanwhile, PIA flights from Jinnah International Airport resumed at 1600 hours on Monday, a PIA spokesman said.
Around 20 flights were disturbed due to the terrorist attack. One domestic flight was diverted to Nawab Shah while three flights coming from abroad were diverted to Lahore. The passengers of the diverted flights were well looked after at Nawab Shah and Lahore.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem said Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had commended the bravery of security forces for containing and eliminating terrorists attack.
Shujaat personally supervised the resumption of flight operations at Jinnah International Airport and visited all areas of Karachi airport along with DG CAA, Air Marshal (R) Muhammad Yousaf and DG ASF Brigadier Muhammad Azam Tiwana.
Security has been increased to the highest level at all airports.In a condolence message, Shujaat Azeem expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the killing of PIA engineers during the terrorist attack.
“The entire PIA family is deeply saddened at the loss of four employees of PIA Engineering — Fakhir Laghari, S.M Ilyas, Tanveer A Khan and Fazal Zuberi. May Allah Grant them eternal peace and strength to the family members of the departed souls”.
“Our prayers go out for the speedy recovery of all injured. We are grateful for the patience and discipline shown by the passengers present at the airport which helped in the success of the operation”, he said.
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