The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an hours-long attack at the country’s largest and busiest airport that killed at least 28 people.
Speaking from an undisclosed location, Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Bahar said the attack Sunday night at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport was retaliation for the death of former chief Hakimullah Mehsud.
Mehsud was killed in a U.S. drone strike in November in North Waziristan.
Bahar warned more attacks will follow.
“As long as we are breathing, our attacks will be continuing ’til the end of our lives.”
Hours of chaos
Late Sunday night, militants armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests stormed the cargo area of the airport.
The airport’s cargo area is about a kilometer (0.62 miles) away from the area where commercial planes take off.
The attack lasted five hours.
When it was over, 28 people were dead — including eight members of airport security forces, two Pakistan International Airlines employees and one ranger.
Another 24 people were injured, the military said.
All 10 militants involved in the attack were killed, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said. Two of them detonated suicide vests, he said.
A building caught fire in the attack, but no planes were damaged, Bajwa said.
Some Pakistani media reported a renewed gun battle at the airport later Monday morning. But officials told CNN the noise was from fire-heated chemical containers exploding.
Still, as a precaution, security forces opened fire, said Ahmad Chinoy of the Citizen’s Police Liaison Committee. He said he was 100% sure there were no militants left in the airport.
Several days ago, Pakistan’s government had warned provincial officials of a possible “high-profile attack on a sensitive or key installation,” said Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of Sindh province. But the warning, he said, did not mention the airport.
