One dead after gunmen open fire on plane landing in Peshawar

The plane was carrying 178 passengers travelling from Saudi Arabia when it came under attack, policeman Asghar Khan said at the airport.

The plane was hit by six bullets, police said, killing a Pakistani woman and narrowly missing the captain. At least one bullet struck the plane’s engine, police said.

The woman's 9-year-old daughter was sitting next to her when she was shot in the head, Pakistan International Airlines official Mohammad Kifayatullah Khan said.

Authorities were scouring the area around the airport to find whoever is responsible, Khan said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion is likely to fall on militants that the government has been fighting in the country’s northwest.

The military announced a major operation on June 15 against militants who have been using the country’s North Waziristan tribal area as a safe haven from which to launch attacks against targets in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees have poured out of North Waziristan since the operation started, although so far it has mostly consisted of airstrikes against militant hideouts.

People across Pakistan have been bracing for reprisal attacks ever since the operation started.

The operation came after the Pakistani Taliban and an Uzbek militant group attacked the hospital in the southern port city of Karachi. During the audacious attack, gunmen battled with airport security and other law enforcement authorities for roughly five hours.

The mayhem at Pakistan’s largest airport shocked the country and raised questions about the security of other airports around the country.

The attack comes after the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on the airport in Karachi that left at least 24 people dead earlier this month.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and REUTERS)