"No terrorist has been able to penetrate inside (the air field)," Group Captain Tariq Mahmood, a spokesman for the Pakistan Air Force, said in a statement. "Security forces were fully alert and are in control of the situation." A squad of attackers wearing suicide vests began the attack by ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into a boundary wall before trading fire with security forces for more than 30 minutes. Three rockets slammed into a nearby residential area.
Health and police officials said at least four civilians had been killed and over 50 wounded in the flurry of blasts and gunshots. Authorities sealed off access to the airport during the attack and suspended flights, leaving passengers and staff facing tense minutes waiting to see whether the militants would succeed in fighting their way into the complex.
Army rushed reinforcements to the aid of guards battling the attackers, all five of whom were killed, security sources said. "We have repulsed the attack on the airport, everything is now under control," said a military official. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the movement had sent 10 suicide bombers to attack the airport, double the number of attackers reported by security forces. "Our target was the Pakistani Air Force base, not the Peshawar airport," Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Our Reporter adds: The bodies and injured persons were rushed to Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) while some of them were also shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital. The Chief Executive of KTH Dr Omar Ayub confirmed that the hospital had received four of the bodies. According to him, four of the persons being treated in the hospital were in critical condition.
The airport was cordoned off after the attack, disrupting the schedule of flights from the airport, besides stranding a number of staff members of the Civil Aviation Authority and Pakistan International Airline inside the airport. The bodies were shifted to hospitals by volunteers of the Rescue 1122. Some rescuers said that they faced difficulties because of intense firing.
The blasts were so intense that window panes of a number of residences in the post University Town were shattered. Provincial Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussein said that the airport had been secured. According to him, there have been "only two deaths and 10 persons are injured" in the attack. He said that both the situation inside and outside the airport "is under control". He said that the boundary wall of the airport had collapsed because of the attack.