Pakistani security forces have launched a new military operation at an airport in Karachi, which was earlier targeted by a military attack.
The Jinnah International Airport, Pakistan’s largest airport in the southern city of Karachi, was primarily targeted from Sunday night until Monday dawn when militants wearing military uniforms hurled grenades and opened fire at the airport. The Pakistani army forces launched an operation and subsequently announced the end of the militant attack.
Ten attackers and a number of security personnel and airport staff were killed in the attack.
However, new gunfire erupted at the airport again on Monday.
“We have re-launched the operation and called in additional troops,” said Sibtain Rizvi, the spokesman for Pakistan’s Rangers paramilitary force. It is not immediately clear why the new operation has been launched, especially given that the army had announced that the militant attack had ended.
Rizvi said one police officer was injured in the new operation.
According to Pakistan’s civil aviation authorities, all operations at the airport have been suspended and all flights to the airport have been diverted.
Pro-Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for the attack on the airport in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city. They have managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country despite sporadic offensives by the Pakistani army.
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the United States in the so-called war on terror. Over 4,000 Pakistani police and soldiers have been also killed so far. Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.
