Karachi airport reopens
June 9, 2014
The majority of international and domestic flights resumed on Tuesday at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, according to its official website.
There was no comment available on the site regarding the disruption to services from Sunday through Monday caused by a siege by armed militants.
Earlier on Monday, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had launched it out of revenge for attacks on their strongholds along the country's border with Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of Islamist militant groups, is seeking to overthrow the Islamabad government and set up a Sharia state.
Pakistan's Rangers paramilitary forces regained control of the airport after several hours of fighting into early Monday morning. By that time, over 20 people had been killed, including the 10 gunmen who had stormed a terminal used mostly for cargo flights. Most of those killed appeared to be airport and other security staff.
Ban urges Pakistan to act
In response to the incident, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the violence, saying he was "deeply concerned by this upsurge of violence across Pakistan," according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Monday.
"While acknowledging the measures already taken to maintain security, [Ban] urges the government of Pakistan to further increase its efforts to address terrorism and religious extremism, including with a view to protecting the rights of all people to safely practice their religion, and to bring the perpetrators of such attacks to justice," Dujarric said in the statement.
The deadly airport assault on Sunday came just hours after at least 22 people were reported killed in a gun and suicide attack in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province. The attack apparently targeted pilgrims in a hotel in the border town of Tuftan, where they were staying after returning from a visit to holy Muslim sites in Iran.
kms/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)