Over a dozen people are dead after the Taliban launched a massive attack at a major Pakistan airport on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.
Disguised as police officers, ten men armed with several machine guns and a rocket launcher attacked the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi late Sunday. At least 13 were killed during the fiery massacre that lasted for five hours and ended with security forces killing all of the gunmen.
Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of the Sindh province, said the attack was strategically carried out by 10 members of the Taliban.
"They were well-trained. Their plan was very well thought out," the chief minister said Monday according to the AP.
Some of the gunmen were dressed as Airport Security Force officers and all had explosives attached to their bodies, officials said. At least two of the militants blew up when their explosives were detonated by gunfire from the police. The fire after the attack came from oil that ignited, officials said.
Sarmad Hussain, who was at the airport when the militants attacked, told the AP he was able to escape through a window.
"I was working at my office when I heard big blasts- several blasts- and then there were heavy gunshots," Hussain said.
Of the 13 dead, nine were Airport Security Force officers, one was a police officer, one worked for Pakistan International Airlines, one was a politician and another was from the Civil Aviation Authority, the AP reported.
The Taliban released a statement Monday claiming responsibility for the attack, the AP reported.
The assault was in "revenge for the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud," a Taliban chief who was killed in a drone strike in November, said a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The spokesman warned there would be more attacks.
The Sunday attack occurred the same day another attack involving a suicide bombing killed 23 Shiite Muslims in the southwest of Pakistan, the AP reported.
