10 killed, over 40 injured in airport attack in NW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - At least ten people were killed and over 40 others injured when an airport in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar came under attack on Saturday night, according to hospital and army sources.

The killed include five attackers, local media quoted army sources as saying. Pakistan Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Both Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Ashraf condemned the attack while expressed grief over the loss of lives in the attack.  

The attack took place at about 8:30 p.m. local time when militants coming in an explosive-laden vehicle launched an attack at Bacha Khan Airport in Peshawar.

The attackers rammed the vehicle into the wall surrounding the airport and then tried to enter inside the airport, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Information Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province with Peshawar as its capital. Four of the attackers were killed during the attack, said the minister.

Another attacker retreated into a building nearby the airport and was later killed by the security forces in the search operation, according to army sources.

All the international and domestic flights were canceled during the attack. Airport officials said the airport will be reopened soon.

Some local media said that five rockets were fired at the airport during the attack and two of them fell on the runway of the airport. But airport authorities said all airport assets remained safe in the attack.

An army statement said that the attackers came from the nearby tribal area of Khyber Agency and the attack was a revenge for a recent military operation launched against the militants there.