PHOTOS: 28 killed as bloody siege of Karachi airport ends

In a brazen attack, heavily-armed Pakistani Taliban terrorists launched an assault on Pakistan’s largest airport, Karachi, in which at least 28 persons, including 10 terrorists, were killed before security forces eventually regained control over the key facility.

The 10 militants divided into two groups of five attacked the Jinnah International Airport late last night, resulting in a six-hour gun battle with security forces involving army, paramilitary Rangers, police and Airport Security Force.

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Explosions and gunfire rang out as the attackers wearing military uniforms and suicide vests, and armed with grenades and rocket launchers attacked the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city and financial hub, late Sunday night.

According to reports, eight Airport Security Force personnel, two Rangers officials, one police officer and three Pakistan International Airlines officials are among the dead.

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At least 28 people, including the 10 terrorists, were killed in the attack, one of the most daring ones in recent years in the port city.

Twenty-four people have been injured in the attack so far as well.

"The airport has been cleared. The security forces killed seven terrorists while three blew themselves up during the fight," Major General Rizwan Akthar, director general, Rangers, told the media. "Very soon we will hand over the airport to the civilian aviation authority to start normal operations."

Earlier, the military had declared an end to its operation to secure the airport but was forced to relaunch an assault after fresh firing erupted.

"All 10 terrorists have been killed, the airport secured and they were unable to damage any aircraft or installations," a spokesman of the military's Inter Services Public Relations said.

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The terrorists were cornered and shot down after they attacked the old airport terminal building late Sunday night, posing as ASF personnel.

The ISPR spokesman said that army units from the nearby Malir cantonment base, ASF commandos, paramilitary rangers and police had carried out the joint operation to clear the old airport area.

Sophisticated machine guns and rocket launchers were recovered from the slain terrorists who were being identified, he said.

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The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We carried out this attack on the Karachi airport and it  is a message to the Pakistani government that we are still alive to react over the killings of innocent people in bomb attacks on their villages," TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in a statement to the media.

He said the attack was also carried out to avenge the killing of former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike.

"It's just the beginning, we have taken revenge for one (Mehsud), we have to take revenge for hundreds," Shahid said.

He dismissed the Pakistani government's peace plan as a "tool of war".

Akhtar said it was clear the terrorists came prepared for a long siege of the airport and to cause maximum damage to aircraft and airport installations.

Some of the attackers are said to be Uzbek militants.

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For nearly six hours the Jinnah international airport, which is close to the old airport terminal, was shut down and all flights diverted as heavy exchange of gunfire took place and thick plumes of smoke and fire could be seen rising from inside the runway area where the terrorists took cover in the hanger and engineering workshops.

Several loud explosions were also heard but officials confirmed that no aircraft was damaged nor any important assets or installations damaged during the operation.

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Those martyred include the ASF personnel, civilian engineers and personnel of CAA and PIA and a police officer while a dozen have also been injured and are admitted to hospital," said Sagheer Ahmed, the Sindh minister for health.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif described the attack as cowardly and said it was another example of how terrorists were trying to destroy important installations and locations of the government.

"But I can tell you these terrorists will not succeed in their aims and will be defeated," Asif said.

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The carnage was reminiscent of the deadly raid carried out by 15 TTP militants in May 2011 on the Mehran naval airbase in which the attackers killed some 18 navy personnel and damaged aircraft before being killed in a counter-attack. 

The attack means that peace talks between the government and the Taliban are effectively dead and authorities would have to find a way to control the militants who have killed more than 40,000 people since 2004.