The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Killers off death row
FIVE TALIBAN fighters were killed in a battle with security forces yesterday after they fled to a village in north-western Pakistan near an international airport they helped attack the night before.
The militants were hiding in a house in the village, located about two miles from the airport in Peshawar, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
Three of the militants were shot by security forces when they tried to escape, Mr Hussain said.
Both he and the military said the two other militants detonated their suicide vests when security forces stormed the building.
Taliban militants began their attack on the airport on Saturday night by firing rockets at its surrounding wall before detonating two car bombs to try to break through.
The militants, some of whom were wearing suicide vests, were also armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, automatic weapons and bags of explosives.
Four civilians were killed during the attack and more than 40 wounded, including women and children.
Two of the wounded are in a condition.
The civilians who were killed and wounded were from neighbourhoods located next to the airport.
It is unclear if the casualties were caused by the rockets and bombs used by the
critical militants or if the civilians were caught in the crossfire when security forces responded to the attack.
The militants were unable to enter the airport, no air force equipment was damaged and no personnel were injured.
PakistaniTaliban spokesmanAhsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack.
He said the attack was carried out by 10 militants, some of whom were killed.
Authorities knew that some of the militants escaped, and police intelligence traced them to Pawaka village. But action was not taken immediately because of the darkness, Mr Hussain said.
Labourers who
were
working
on the house where the militants holed up informed police when they showed up for work on yesterday morning and found armed men there. Witness statements suggest four of the militants were foreigners, possibly Uzbeks or Chechens, he said.
The airport was closed after the attack but reopened yesterday. A North Carolina judge has commuted the death sentences of three convicted killers, including two who killed law enforcement officers, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The three were among the most notorious killers on North Carolina’s death row, but it was ruled that race played an unjust role in jury selection at their trials.