PIA flight PK-756, travelling from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, was about to land at the Peshawar airport when it was struck by ten bullets. The plane was carrying 178 passengers.
The airline's managing director Junaid Yunus said that the plane was 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles) away from the runway when it was hit.
“I must tell everyone that our pilot, Captain Tariq Chaudhry, utilised all his years of experience and did not lose his nerve. Unfortunately, one woman passenger, who was sitting on seat 59-J, lost her life."
Yunus added that all passengers and flight crew were in their seats at the time of the attack as the plane was minutes away from landing.
The bullets also hit two PIA cabin crew members. One of them, Ijaz Afridi, received three bullets and was shifted to the hospital in critical condition.
The PIA management refused to talk further about the incident or speculate where the bullets were fired from.
Wajid Khan, the other crew member who had received one bullet in his leg, told a private TV channel that this particular area, the residential colony adjacent to the airport, is notorious and the pilots have previously complained of aerial firing in the area.
Talking to The Express Tribune, SP Cantt Faisal Kamran said that unknown people opened fire on the airliner in which a woman was killed and two people were injured during its landing.
“The firing took place outside the vicinity of the airport and we have launched a search operation in the area but it is not an attack on the airport. They targeted the flight coming from abroad during its landing,” he explained.
“There were three injured in which one woman succumbed to her injuries at the hospital” he added.
At the time of incident, the plane was flying low over Landi Akhum Ahmad area as it lined up its approached for landing.
Soon after the incident, all flights from the airport were suspended as a precautionary measure and Pakistan Army units cordoned off the entire airport to ward off any untoward incident.
A search operation has been launched by the Airport Security Force (ASF) and local police.
This is the third such incident at the Bacha khan airport.
On April 29, rockets were fired on BKIA that hit an army barrack on Khyber Road.
On February 26, two rockets landed inside Peshawar airport however no damage was reported.
COMMENTS (30)
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@A. Khan: Do not compare to animals. They do not kill and only when they are hungry and certainly not for religion or ideology.
@Wasim Abbasi: you are concerned for badnami only and not the underlining problem. With this mindset the problem obviously will remain unresolved.
Anyone still think these cowards are "freedom fighters"? The common denominator between good and bad terrorist is that neither has any qualms about killing innocents to further their cause - that's why there called terrorist and that's why the rest of the World considers them all bad.
@Syed Rizvi: as if it was all peace and ideal situation before operation.
It may not seem nothing to yall but understand nothing was done for me
It may not seem nothin to yall but understand nothing was done for me.
A well trained sniper did this. Ex-Military.
Please, everyone. Pakistan is extremely safe. National teams from all countries should come here to play cricket, especially Ireland. Everything's generally groovy over here, except for the odd terrorist attack by Indians disguised as Uzbeks disguised as Afghans disguised as Pakistanis. We know this by looking at injections and stuff, I believe.
Welcome to Maududi's and Jamiat Ulema i Islam's Pakistan. Unless the cancer of mullahism is not exterminated, Pakistan will continue to face this "religious" violence.
I have always failed to understand the fascination of the people of frontier with guns and firing, even the educated moderate ones. Be it birth, death or marriage, nothing can be celebrated without aerial firing. However, as the saying goes, "You live by the gun, you die by the gun!" We are paying the price, collectively as a society for this morbid love!
Day is not far when only PIA will be flying in and out of Pakistan. What a scary country Pakistan has become..
We need to wake up stop this aman ka tamasha
Is there any other badnami that we have not managed to add to our long list of negative accomplishments? Ridiculous.
Another A310 coming from Kuala Lumpur was diverted to Lahore. Thank God the aircraft remained safe. I wonder what PIA is going to do with the a/c stranded in Peshawer.
This is a cowardly act; firing on a passenger plane as it approached the Peshawar airport for landing. What can be expected from terrorists who take pride in killing innocent women and children? Our hearts and prayers go out to the woman killed and her family. We also send good wishes for those injured in this, yet another, senseless attack. We stand united with Pakistan in these challenging times. We are sure their quest for peace will yield positive results.
Abdul Quddus DET-United States Central Command
PTI should relinquish KPK to PML N.
The have done nothing but rhetoric and dharnas . I'm ashamed that they are "managing " such an important province as KPK.
nobody is safe anywhere in Pakistan ....
Operation kay nataij samnay arahay hain.
At first I thought k plane was under fire(flames)
I just hate what the retards are doing to my country but I will stay silent like all of you
That's why operation must continue till all of these killers of innocent are eliminated.
Sad news. We need to sort out our priorities. Its not rocket science, If you will leave the small crazy you would have to face the big crazy.
Dear me! these sadists want to ban international flights to Pakistan. They want to isolate us so as to strangulate us. Allah raiham.
Thank you Democracy! :)
That's what you get when you give weapons to animals.
What? really - WHAT? they fired on a passenger airplane? I thought even criminals had an ethical code.
Sad incident.
For haters who might play politics on terrorism, know that after Model Town incident and Karachi airport attack, you have no "nose" to attack PTI on this one whatever political party you may belong too.
This incident as not as severe as the above ones.
The locality around especially taking off and landing of Peshawar Airport is extremely dangerous. The fire shots must have came from Thakal area next to the plane landing and taking off. Even a kid can hit plane with his hands if he is on third floor. Mostly Afghan refugees are staying in this locality. This area need a proper clean up.