KARACHI: Pakistan's Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for an attack on a

security academy at Karachi's airport on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after an a

ll-night siege by Taliban gunmen at Pakistan's busiest airport that killed more
than 30 people.
"We accept responsibility for another successful attack against the government,"
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told Reuters. "We are successful
ly achieving all our targets and we will go on carrying on many more such attack
s."
Two days earlier, 10 militants disguised as security force members and armed wit
h rocket-propelled grenades stormed the airport, one of the most brazen attacks
in a long-running Pakistani Taliban insurgency.
The late Sunday assault, in which 34 people were killed, destroyed prospects for
peace talks between the Taliban and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Shar
if and triggered speculation that the army might opt for an all-out offensive ag
ainst militant strongholds.
On Tuesday, a group of gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on an academy run by the
Airports Security Force (ASF) and fled after security forces retaliated.
A Reuters correspondent near the airport of Pakistan's commercial capital heard
gunfire and saw at least four ambulances heading to the scene.
There was no immediate word on casualties from the latest attack. The army's pre
ss wing said there were three or four attackers on motorbikes, whereas an ASF sp
okesman said there were two.
READ ALSO: As it happened - Another attack at Karachi airport complex
"The shooting came from a nearby shanty settlement towards the ASF," said a seni
or police officer. "Police are launching a search operation now."
Karachi airport briefly suspended all flights in and out of the sprawling city o
f 18 million were suspended, an official said, but most flights were restored by
0930 GMT. Sri Lankan Airlines cancelled a Karachi-bound flight with 207 passeng
ers onboard after the latest attack.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistani fighter jets bombed Taliban positions on the Afgha
n border.
"Nine terrorist hideouts were destroyed by early morning military air strikes ne
ar the Pakistan-Afghan border," the army's press wing said, adding that 25 milit
ants were killed.
Seven more bodies
It was unclear if the latest air strikes signalled the start of a broader offens
ive in the North Waziristan region where the al Qaida-linked Taliban are based,
or indeed if they had been carried out in retaliation for the airport attack.
The air force has periodically conducted raids to bomb Pakistani Taliban positio
ns in the lawless, ethnic Pashtun region but has yet to launch a major offensive
.
The semi-autonomous Pashtun lands along the border, known as the Federally Admin
istered Tribal Areas, have never been brought under the full control of any gove
rnment.
The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of insurgent groups fighting to topple the go
vernment and set up an Islamist state, said they had carried out the late Sunday
attack in Karachi in response to the air strikes on their strongholds.
At Karachi's airport, rescue workers earlier recovered the bodies of seven peopl
e trapped inside a cargo building, bringing to 34 the death toll from the first
assault.
"The bodies are badly charred beyond identification," said a morgue official who
declined to be identified.
Airport officials said the victims had taken refuge in the cargo shed to hide fr
om the gunfire but got trapped when the building caught fire at the height of th
e battle.
"They (security forces) were busy killing militants and clearing the area, nobod
y bothered to rescue these trapped men," said Abdul Rehman, whose brother was am
ong those killed. "They could have been saved if timely rescue efforts had been
made."