Another five terrorists who launched the brazen attack on PAF Peshawar airbase on Saturday were killed in gun battle with the security forces, as troops declared the Fawakai area of the city clear of terrorists in the afternoon.
Two suspected people were also arrested during the search and clearance operation.
Joint contingents of police and the military conducted a search and clearance operation in the area adjacent to the Bacha Khan International Airport, the site of Saturday’s attack.
Ten people, including five civilians and five militants, had been killed and over 42 injured in rocket and suicide attack on the airport claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
According to the security official all the five militants were Uzbek nationals, however, witness said four were speaking an unfamiliar language, while one spoke Pashto.
The search teams raided an under-construction house on a tip off that some of the fleeing militants had taken shelter in the building in Fawakai area, a kilometre away from Peshawar airport.
Residents had also contacted police about the presence of militants. Police cordoned off the area and roads leading to the area and launched a police raid on the compound, killing three militants in an exchange of fire. Two others blew themselves up with explosives.
A police official was killed and two others injured when the militants opened fired and hurled hand grenades at the troops.
Information Minister Main Iftikhar Hussain said police raided a house where terrorists were hiding. “Police killed three terrorists while the remaining two blew themselves up.”
“Our police performed excellently and failed the militants’ attempts,” he remarked.
The information minister said three suicide jackets were recovered from the compound and were defused later.
The ISPR said the operation had been completed successfully and all five militants in hiding had been killed.
It also said the militants killed on Sunday were Uzbeks.
Residents said labours had found the men hiding in the under-construction house when they arrived for work early in the morning. “The militants told them to arrange shawls and a vehicle for them, while warring of dire consequences if they said anything to anybody,” locals said.
“One of them snatched my shawl and asked me to go and arrange four more,” one of the labourers said.
The militants had taken the owner of the house hostage and asked for help, Peshawar CCPO Imtiaz Altaf said.
The deceased police official was identified as Sareer Ahmad, while two others were injured in a hand grenade explosion. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour said he would investigate how the “terrorists came and how the incident occurred”.
“We will complete this journey and will defeat them,” Bashir said, adding that the terrorists could not deter them with such cowardly acts.
Authorities said they had collected samples from the bodies of the terrorists who attacked the Peshawar airport and they would be sent to Lahore for DNA tests.
Attack victims buried
Hundreds participated in the funeral prayers of those killed during Saturday’s attack on Peshawar airport, which were offered on Sunday afternoon in University Town, Peshawar. On Saturday, at least five rockets were fired at the Peshawar airport, out of which, three landed in the residential area of University Town, killing five people and injuring dozens others. The attack caused panic among the local residents, who started to move away from the residential area to take shelter elsewhere. Airport Security Force (ASF) and army soldiers shot down five militants who were trying to enter the airports vicinity with a van loaded with explosives. A policeman was also killed in the crossfire.