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YAHOO! NEWS SINGAPORE
Cathay cancels Karachi flights as Pakistan reviews security
By By Syed Raza Hassan | Reuters –
By Syed Raza Hassan
KARACHI Pakistan (Reuters) – Cathay Pacific Airways has cancelled all flights to the Pakistani city of Karachi from Bangkok following a Taliban raid on the country’s busiest airport this week, as top Pakistani officials debated how to tackle the escalating violence.
International flights in and out of Karachi have been suspended twice since Sunday, when gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed the airport, firing rocket-propelled grenades in an all-night siege that killed 34 people.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Cathay said in a statement. “Customers are recommended to check flight status before departing for the airport.”
Cathay Pacific 0293.HK shares closed down 0.14 percent at HK$14.48 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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Security was tight around Karachi airport and the bustling city of 18 million people remained nervous after the twin attacks, though life seemed to have returned to normal, with shops and markets open and people going about daily tasks.
“It looks like the Taliban have taken over the entire country,” said Mohammad Gulfam, who owns an electrical appliances shop in Karachi.
“What we want is that the army should carry out a big operation to clear out all the country, so that the public can get some peace of mind.”
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The Guardian
Karachi flights suspended amid new airport attack
- theguardian.com, Tuesday 10 June 2014 09.30
Flights in and out of Karachi airport were suspended on Tuesday after a training camp used by security forces near the airport was attacked.
The gunfight came just two days after a night-time assault by the Pakistani Taliban killed 29 people and destroyed maintenance facilities.
The attack against the Airports Security Force (ASF) base on the northern perimeter of Jinnah International Airport began in the early afternoon, forcing inbound international flights to turn around in mid-air and stranding fully loaded planes on the runway.
“Gunmen are exchanging fire with Airport Security Force (ASF) personnel,” an ASF spokesman said.
TV footage showed paramilitary vehicles and ambulances racing to the scene.
“We have suspended all flight operations at Karachi airport and we are evacuating passengers,” said Mashud Tajwar, a spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines.
The assault came as Pakistan launched air strikes on a tribal district, killing 15 people in apparent retaliation for the earlier airport attack.
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Star
Monday June 9, 2014 MYT 6:02:24 PM
Well-trained and armed, Taliban tried to hijack plane in Pakistan
A member of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) stands near to the explosives and hand grenades, which have been defused, along a sidewalk outside Jinnah International Airport Karachi June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Athar Hussain
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Their backpacks stuffed with food and ammunition, a squad of highly trained Taliban fighters attacked Pakistan’s biggest airport in what they clearly expected to be a protracted siege.
Seven fighters were shot dead by Pakistani forces after five hours of intense gunfire at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. Three died after detonating their suicide-bomb vests.
The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attack in response to air strikes in their strongholds near the Afghan border and suggested their mission was to hijack a passenger plane.
“The main goal of this attack was to damage the government, including by hijacking planes and destroying state installations,” said Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman.
“This was just an example of what we are capable of and there is more to come. The government should be ready for even worse attacks.”
At least 27 people including 10 militants were killed.
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Star
Monday June 9, 2014 MYT 1:59:30 PM
Pakistani Taliban claim responsibility for Karachi attack
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: The Pakistani Taliban on Monday claimed responsibility for an attack on Karachi airport in revenge for their late leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike in November.
“We carried out the attack on Karachi airport to avenge the death of Hakimullah Mehsud,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP, while dismissing the Pakistani government’s recent offer of peace talks as a “tool of war”.
He also promised more attacks in the future.
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NST
Attack on Karachi airport leaves 24 dead
KARACHI: Heavily armed militants launched an assault on Pakistan’s busiest airport in the southern city of Karachi, leaving at least 24 dead including 10 militants in a six-hour siege that the army quelled at dawn today.
Explosions and gunfire rang out as the attackers, equipped with suicide vests, grenades and rocket launchers, battled security forces in one of the most brazen attacks in years in Pakistan’s biggest city.
Authorities said all 10 militants had been killed and that the bodies of 14 victims, including security personnel and four airport workers, had been identified at the city’s main hospital.
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The Guardian
Heavy fighting at Karachi airport as militants and security forces clash
- theguardian.com, Monday 9 June 2014 01.48 BST
Heavy fighting at Karachi airport as militants and security forces clash
Email- theguardian.com, Monday 9 June 2014 01.48 BST
A team of heavily armed militants launched a brazen attack on Pakistan‘s largest civilian airport on Sunday, killing at least 13 people and setting the airport ablaze during a night-long assault.
Police said up to 10 attackers wearing suicide vests managed to enter Jinnah international airport in Karachi carrying assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, apparently accessing sensitive areas of the airport through a service gate near to a terminal used by VIPs including the prime minister and foreign dignitaries.
The attack on the airport of Pakistan’s economic capital was one of the most audacious the country has seen for years and is likely to sharpen criticism of the government’s policy of attempting to negotiate a peace deal with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s main militant group.
The attack began shortly before midnight and the noise of heavy gunfire and at least two loud explosions were heard in the course of the night. About five of the terrorists appeared to have gained access by shooting their way through a side gate near the old terminal. At least five others may have blasted their way through a wall near the cargo area, officials said.
At least some of the gunmen wore the uniforms of the airport security force that protects the nation’s airports, said an official who briefed journalists near the airport.
He said all were strapped with explosives. One tried to capture a vehicle used by the civil aviation authority and when a guard shot at him, the explosives strapped to his body went off. The official said another attacker also blew up after being shot at by security forces.
Thick smoke billowed from a fire that appeared from TV pictures to be perilously close to commercial airliners, although army officials said no planes had been destroyed.
Fire illuminate the sky above Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. Photograph: Shakil Adil/AP
It was unclear if the fire was deliberately started by the attackers or resulted from fighting with the army troops who rushed to the scene.
For more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/08/karachi-airport-attacked-militants-pakistan
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Morning picture of #KarachiAirport #MilitaryMonday #KarachiAirportAttack #Karachi pic.twitter.com/kjfAZNtrgD
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Indian arms found on bodies of terrorists involved in #KarachiAirportAttack http://www.dawn.com/news/1111397/ | pic.twitter.com/fITMqjfjQg
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Firing resumes at Karachi airport | #KarachiAirportAttack | Read here: http://www.dawn.com/news/1111397/firing-resumes-at-the-airport-one-rangers-personnel-injured … pic.twitter.com/442DibkAB6
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TIMES OF INDIA
09 Jun, 2014 , 01.20AM IST
Militants attack Karachi international airpor
Heavily armed militants attacked Jinnah International Airport in Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi. Stay with TOI for all the live updates.
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#KarachiAttack: Deadly attack on Pak’s Karachi airport, 23 dead http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Militants-attack-Karachi-international-airport/liveblog/36262836.cms … pic.twitter.com/n2mUTxEKGX
Times of India 
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(LiveUpdates) Smoke can be seen rising from the
#KarachiAirport http://tribune.com.pk/story/719242/four-security-personnel-injured-in-attack-on-karachi-airport/ … pic.twitter.com/iX3HrlbRqR
The Express Tribune ——————————————————————-
weehingthong 
Last time 4 aircraft crashed at the airport between 1953 and 2010 while taking off, resulting in 34 causalities. In 1986, a Boeing 747-121 aircraft of Pan America World Airways was hijacked by Palestinian gunmen, who killed 20 passengers in the incident.