Pakistani Military Kills 15 Suspected Militants in Wake of Airport Attack
Pakistani military says it has killed 15 suspected militants and destroyed nine “terrorist hideouts” in a series of air strikes in the northwestern Khyber region.
In a statement, the military said the air strikes took place early Tuesday, two days after the Pakistani Taliban carried out an attack at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport that killed at least 28 people, including 10 gunmen.
The gunmen shot their way into a facility used mainly for cargo and executive flights on Sunday before being killed by police or blowing themselves up in a five-hour firefight. Some wore military uniforms.
On Tuesday, rescue workers recovered the bodies of seven people who had sought refuge inside of an airport cold storage facility during the siege. Local media reports say the victims worked for a private cargo company.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the airport attack and another violent incident that took place just hours before the attack.
Suspected Sunni Muslim militants on Sunday killed at least 26 Shi’ite pilgrims in a suicide attack on buses carrying the worshippers in the town of Taftan, near the Iranian border. Authorities say one bomber was killed, while three others blew themselves up.
Ban said Monday that he was “deeply concerned” about the upsurge in violence across Pakistan.
He urged the Islamabad government to further boost efforts to protect the rights of all people to practice their religion safely.
Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also condemned the attacks.
Critics said the airport siege dealt a critical blow to Sharif’s efforts to negotiate a peace settlement with the Taliban, which ended a six-week cease-fire in April.
A Taliban spokesman linked the airport attack to recent military strikes against militant strongholds along the Afghan border and last year’s killing of the group’s leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, in a suspected U.S. drone strike.