Pakistan International Airlines plane ‘fired’ upon at Peshawar airport

PESHAWAR: Unknown miscreants opened fire at a landing flight at Bacha Khan International Airport in the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday night, however, the aircraft and passengers remained safe, official sources said. 

Unidentified gunmen had attacked another passenger aircraft earlier in June as it came in to land at the same airport, killing a woman and injuring two flight stewards on board.

Official sources said that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-756 form Riyadh was fired upon by unknown miscreants between Sulemankhel and Mashokhel of Peshawar’s Badhber area tonight. 

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials said that they have reports of firing but the flight landed safely without any injuries to the passengers. They said that they cannot officially confirm the attack. 

Badhber Police said that they have heard and seen the gunfire and were investigating if the plane was attacked or it was a routine celebratory fire, common in the area.

Another security source in the area told Dawn.com that light and short range weapons were used and the fire came from Sulemankhel area and it continued for about a minute. The security forces in the area targeted the firing spot and the attackers were silenced, the source added. 

Security forces were dispatched to the area and launched a search operation.

It may be mentioned that Dara Adamkhel Taliban were planning to target military helicopters and war planes besides passenger aircraft in Peshawar, according to a report by DawnNews. 

Security was put on high alert on Friday night after the threat alert and besides FC and police, army troops also patrolled the area near the tribal areas specially Adezai, Badhber and Mattani.

- Source:  http://www.dawn.com