Pakistani airport attacked in ‘act of terror’

A major airport in Pakistan was attacked over the weekend in at incident that has been dubbed a terrorist attack by officials there, the Washington Post reports. 

Karachi, Pakistan’s Jinnah International Airport came under assault on Sunday night as approximately 10 people launched a coordinated attack on the facility, the report said. Twenty-nine people were killed in the incident. 

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif quickly declared the shootings were part of a terrorist attack, according to the report. 

{mosads}“This act of terror is unforgivable,” the paper said he told local television reporters. “The state will give an appropriate response to such cowardly acts of terror. Those who plan and those who execute the terrorist attacks will be defeated.”

The Taliban has reportedly claimed responsibility for the assault. 

“The message to the Pakistani government is that we are still alive to react to the killings of innocent people in bomb attacks on their villages,” the Post reported Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said. 

The Jinnah Airport is used by approximately six million passengers each year, according to the report.