Terrorists Attack Karachi Airport, Killing 13

Karachi, Pakistan: In a ferocious terrorist attack that stretched into Monday morning, 10 gunmen infiltrated Pakistan's largest international airport in Karachi, waging an extended firefight against security forces and shaking the country's already fragile sense of security. (Buzz on Twitter)

The military reported just before 5 am that the last of the attackers had been killed, ending hours of siege and explosions at the Karachi airport. The chief minister of Sindh province, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, told reporters that the attackers had killed 13 people, including 10 members of the Airport Security Forces. (See Pictures)

There was no claim of responsibility for the assault, which was the most ambitious of its kind since Islamist militants attacked a military air base in central Karachi in 2011. Initial suspicions fell on the Pakistani Taliban or related Islamist groups that have become increasingly strong in Karachi, a bustling city of 20 million people that is Pakistan's premier port and hub of commercial activity.

The attack began late Sunday night, when the gunmen made it past security checkpoints near the airport's old terminal, which is mostly used for cargo or private flights for senior government officials and business leaders. Some news reports said the men wore identification saying they were members of the Airport Security Force.

Hurling grenades and unleashing automatic weapons fire, the attackers at least initially moved toward the nearby web of runways as they fought, according to news and witness reports.

News footage showed giant fires blazing inside the airport, and some reports suggested that two planes were aflame. But later, a senior spokesman for the Pakistani military, Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, said that no planes had been damaged and denied reports that the gunmen had been trying to hijack an airliner.

Although the fighting took place away from the main terminal that is used by commercial airlines, some passengers were stranded on airplanes that were about to take off when the fighting started. Among them were Farooq Sattar, a senior leader with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement political party, which has dominated Karachi politics for almost three decades. Others posted updates on Twitter and other social media.

At one point Syed Saim. A Rizvi, a Twitter user who said he was on a flight, reported that commandos from the army's elite Special Services Groups had taken control of his plane. Moments later, he reported a "huge blast"

and heavy firing outside and said there was a "full panic" on the flight.

Two hours later, he said that the Pakistani military had safely evacuated all passengers from the flight.

A spokeswoman at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, Seemi Jamali, said that in addition to the dead, at least 16 people had been seriously injured, and all the city's hospitals were on alert.

A tentative peace process with the Taliban, begun by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government in February, has disintegrated in recent weeks. The militant group has split into at least two opposed factions, in part over disagreements about whether to negotiate with the government. The Pakistani army renewed a campaign of airstrikes against the militants in North Waziristan two weeks ago, and factions of the Taliban were believed to be behind a deadly attack on a high-security military complex near Rawalpindi last week.

Karachi has in recent years been increasingly contested by the Taliban and other militants. Many have moved in from the country's northwestern tribal regions and have become embroiled in the chaotic and violent political turf battles that have wracked the city.

In a further demonstration of the fragile security situation inside the country, at least 23 Shiites were reported killed in a coordinated suicide bombing in a remote part of Baluchistan province on the border with Iran. The Associated Press quoted provincial officials as saying the attack had come as the victims were returning from a pilgrimage to Iran.

Although the Taliban have frequently been behind attacks on Shiites and other religious and ethnic minorities in Pakistan, such violence in Baluchistan has more often been waged by other sectarian militias like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Human rights officials have accused Pakistan's military of aiding or turning a blind eye toward those groups, as they are considered its allies in a long war against Baluch separatists.

The attack on the Karachi international airport was the most audacious militant strike in the city since the coordinated attack against the Mehran naval base there in May 2011. At least 10 members of the security forces were killed in the attack, which also destroyed two surveillance planes provided to Pakistan by the United States and deeply embarrassed the country's military.

In December 2012, Taliban militants struck the airport in Peshawar, the main city in Pakistan's northwest, killing seven people. That attack was suspected of being aimed at a military facility inside the airport's boundaries.