Peshawar attack aftermath: Fearing attack, ASF digs trench around airport

Police detain two Uzbek nationals on their way from K-P.

KARACHI: Following Saturday’s attack by militants on Peshawar airport, security around Karachi airport has been increased, and trenches have been dug along its peripheries.

The Airport Security Force (ASF) will be responsible for security inside the airport, while Rangers and the police have been deployed along the outside wall and the runway to avoid any untoward incident, The Express Tribune learnt on Monday.

“The whole runway has been protected by trenches dug along it,” confirmed an ASF official Major Malik Zulfiqar. “The main reason behind digging trenches was to prevent an explosives-laden vehicle from reaching the runway,” he explained.

The airport is surrounded by four neighbourhoods - Pehlwan Goth, Model Colony, PIA Colony and Bhittaiabad - that are separated by fences or walls. The trench, dug along approximately five kilometres, is three feet wide and four feet deep. “We have piled up mud along the trenches so in case an explosives-laden vehicles rams through the fence, it will slow down in the mud and get stuck in the trench,” he said. This will buy the security forced time to launch an operation against potential attackers, he added.



ASF commando Haider told The Express Tribune that their main purpose is to stop an explosives-laden vehicle, which may have the power to destroy our fleet of aircrafts. “Rockets can damage a plane, but they won’t be able to explode it,” he said.

The trenches are being patrolled by ASF commandos. In their state-of-the-art vans, ASF commandos have night-vision goggles, mobiles with jammers, cameras and weapons. Security at Jinnah airport’s terminal one and ASF headquarters have also been increased.

Airport police SHO Abdul Ghaffar Korai also said the police and Rangers have enhanced patrolling and snap-checking especially in Pehlwan Goth, which is notorious as a ‘terrorists’ hideout.

Earlier, two Uzbek nationals were taken into custody at Super Highway while they were on their way to Karachi from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in an intercity bus. SP Rao Anwar said the suspects intended to live in Karachi with fake identifications and law enforcers were trying to ascertain their possible links with terrorist organisations.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2012.