KARACHI, ******** – The Pakistani ******* on Monday claimed responsibility for a brazen five-hour ******* on the country’s busiest airport that saw ****** disguised as ****** guards storm the international terminal in Karachi, set off ********** and **** 18 people.

The ******* said the ******* on the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, was in revenge for the ******* last ******** of the militant group’s leader in a U.S. ***** ******.

The claim further diminished prospects for a resumption of government-led peace talks with the *******. Those talks floundered in recent weeks and the ******* have called off a cease-**** they declared during negotiations. Since then, Pakistani troops have carried out airstrikes in the country’s troubled northwest to target militant hideouts, ******* dozens of suspected militants. Residents claim several civilians were also ****** in the strikes.

The Karachi ******* started late Sunday when 10 ******, at least some disguised as policemen, opened **** with machine-**** and rocket launchers, triggering a gunbattle with ****** during which all the ********* were ******, said Rizwan Akhtar, the chief of ********’s elite paramilitary Rangers.

Heavy ******* and multiple ********** were heard coming from the terminal, used for VIP flights and cargo, as militants and security forces battled for control. A major **** rose from the airport, illuminating the night sky in an orange glow as the silhouettes of jets could be seen. As dawn broke Sunday, ***** could still be seen billowing in the air.

Authorities diverted incoming flights and suspended all flight operations. Akhtar said no planes had been damaged during the ****** but that a cargo building was left a completely gutted by the **** and **********.

Just before dawn, Pakistani security forces regained full control of the airport. Akhtar added said some of the ********* appeared to be Uzbeks but officials were still investigating to determine their identity and nationality.

“The terrorists entered the terminal in two groups. They were foreigners, and some of them seemed to be Uzbeks,” Akthar said.

The Civil Aviation Authority said security forces had given them back control of the airport.

Dr. Seemi Jamali from Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital said 18 bodies were brought to the morgue, and 11 of them were of airport security personnel. The bodies of the ********* remained in ****** custody.

At least some of the ****** wore the uniform of the Airport Security Force, said an official at the scene near the terminal. All the ********* wore explosives vests, some of which were detonated when they were shot at by the ******, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

After ******** into the airport grounds, ****** hunkered down for the shootout with ****** in two sections of the airport, said senior ****** officer Ghulam Qadir Thebo. Local news channels reported that intermittent ******* could still be heard on Monday morning, though it was not clear what the source of that ******** was.

The ******* spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, said the ****** was to avenge the ******* of Hakimullah Mehsud, the ******* chief who **** in a ***** ****** last ********.

Shahid, who speaks for Tehrik-e-******* ******** as the Pakistani ******* are known, said the ****** on the Karachi airport had been all planned out before the peace talks started and was put on hold during the negotiations.

He also warned of more ******* to come.

Security officials in Karachi had feared that if the peace talks broke down, their city would be a likely spot for militant retribution.

The Pakistani ******* and their allies increasingly are gaining a foothold in Karachi, the country’s largest city and the site of frequent militant ******* in the past. It is the country’s economic hub and any militant activity targeting its airport would likely ****** a heavy blow to foreign investment in the country.

In May 2011, militants waged an 18-hour siege at a naval base in Karachi, ******* 10 people in an ******* that deeply embarrassed the ***** forces.

Source: The Associated Press
Contributors:  Rebecca Santana, Zarar Khan, Munir Ahmed and Asif Shahzad