Militants attack NW Pakistani airport with bombs and rockets; 9 killed, including 4 civilians

By Jamal Khan

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Suicide bombers armed with rockets attacked the military side of a Pakistani airport in the northwestern city of Peshawar Saturday, killing four civilians and wounding more than 30, officials said. Five militants also were killed.

Peshawar is on the edge of Pakistan’s tribal region, the main sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the country. The city has frequently been attacked in the past few years, but Saturday was the first strike against the airport, which is jointly used by the air force and civilian authorities.

The militants fired three rockets at the airport, two of which hit a wall ringing the premises, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is the capital. The third landed near a government building outside the wall, Hussain said.

The militants also set off a car bomb outside the wall around the airport, causing civilian casualties, said the military.

The dead and wounded civilians from the attack came from neighbourhoods located near the airport, said Umar Ayub, a local hospital official. The 36 wounded included six women and three children, and several people were in critical condition, said Ayub.

Five militants were killed in a gunbattle with security forces during the attack, said the military.

However, Zahid Khan, a police explosives expert, said it appeared that three of the militants were accidentally killed when the car bomb they used to try to break through the airport wall exploded.

Four of the attackers who were killed were wearing suicide vests that have been defused, said the air force.

The air force side of the airport was the target of the attack and authorities were searching the area for any remaining attackers, said Defence Minister Naveed Qamar.

No air force personnel were wounded in the attack and none of the service’s equipment was damaged, the air force said.

Local TV footage showed people in the neighbourhoods near the airport rushing for safety as the attack occurred. One car was damaged in the attack and another was set on fire. A house was also damaged.

The airport was closed, and flights were diverted to other cities, said Pervez George, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall on the Pakistani Taliban. The militant group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for the past several years and has attacked Peshawar many times in the past.

Also Saturday, police said a judge freed a couple on bail who confessed to killing their 15-year-old daughter in October by pouring acid on her after their other children pardoned them.

The girl’s parents, Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen, said in a televised interview that they killed her because she sullied the family’s honour by looking at a boy.

They were freed from a jail in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Friday after their other children, who are minors, said they forgave their parents, said police officer Tahir Ayub. The children spoke through their guardian, who is also a relative, said Ayub.

The police officer said authorities had evidence to prove the murder charge against the parents, but by law, their children had the right to forgive them. The murder charge will likely be dropped, said Ayub.

The girl’s death underlined the problem of so-called “honour killings” in Pakistan, where women are often killed for marrying or having relationships not approved by their families or because they are perceived to have somehow dishonoured their family.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at least 943 women were killed in the name of honour last year. The real toll is believed to be higher because many of the crimes go unreported.

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Associated Press writer Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Roshan Mughal in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

14:14ET 15-12-12