PAKISTAN: Funeral held for victim of Karachi airport attack.

Record ID: 354981

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Funeral held for victim of Karachi airport attack.
  • Date: 11th June 2014
  • Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (JUNE 10, 2014) (REUTERS) MOURNERS CARRYING COFFIN OF AIRPORT ATTACK VICTIM, SULTAN MOHAMMAD HUSSAIN, FOR FUNERAL PRAYER VARIOUS OF FUNERAL PRAYERS BEING OFFERED MOURNERS PRAYING MOURNERS CARRYING COFFIN TO CEMETERY WOMEN RECITING KORANIC VERSES ON BEADS CLOSE OF HANDS AND BEADS PHOTO OF AIRPORT ATTACK VICTIM, SULTAN MOHAMMAD HUSSAIN, LYING ON BEADS (SOU
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA6AABIKORLYYGIUMSD2S9AFVQS
  • Story Text: Relatives and mourners on Tuesday (June 10) attended funeral service for a victim of Karachi airport militant assault.
    An all-night siege on Sunday (June 8) by Taliban gunmen at Pakistan's busiest airport killed more than 30 people and destroyed prospects for peace talks between the Taliban and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
    Rescue workers were still searching for bodies at the cargo building where the victims had taken refuge from the gunfire. Seven badly charred bodies were recovered on Tuesday bringing the death toll from the first airport assault to 34.
    In a second assault, 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. No one was hurt, officials said.
    Sultan Mohammad Hussain was among the seven people trapped inside the building after it caught fire at the height of the battle.
    "At first I searched for him at all hospitals, then I remained there at the airport constantly. I searched for him at the airport. We cried for help but no one listened to us, no one came to help us. There was no rescue, no help, nothing. The fire was raging out till this morning," the victim's niece Ayesha said.
    She blamed the rescue teams for late response and said her uncle could have been saved had rescue efforts been made earlier.
    "If he was saved timely, he could have been with us today. How will we take care of his children, two minor girls and two boys?"said Ayesha The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of insurgent groups fighting to topple the government and set up an Islamist state, said they had carried out the Sunday attack in Karachi in response to the air strikes on their strongholds.
    The group also claimed responsibility for the attack on a security academy at Karachi's airport on Tuesday.
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