Qatar Airways resumes flight operation in Peshawar.
First flight from Qatar reached Peshawar after an 8 day suspension.
PESHAWAR (Dunya News) — Qatar Airways reopened its flight operation in Peshawar after a suspension of 8 days. First flight from Qatar reached Peshawar earlier on Thursday, Dunya News reported.
The flights to Peshawar were halted in the wake of the firing that took place on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane while landing on Bacha Khan Airport on June 24. Since then, all the flights from Qatar to Peshawar were routed to Islamabad. After a deferment of 8 days, Qatar Airways resumed its services to Peshawar and a passenger flight from Qatar reached safely at Bacha Khan Airport on Thursday Morning at 5:15 am.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sources, flights from Saudi Airlines and Etihad Airways to Peshawar are still suspended. The decision as to when the flights shall be resumed is still pending. On the other hand, all international flights are advised by the Airport administration to schedule their landing in Peshawar in the Morning.
These occurrences are a consequence of the firing that took place on June 24 late night when a PIA flight K-756 (Airbus A310) en route from Riyadh, with 178 passengers on aboard was caught in the firing while landing at Peshawar airport.
The initial reports suggested that a woman was shot and two of the crew members on the plane were wounded. The course of events left one female passenger dead while flight steward Ijaz Afridi was injured and immediately taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH). According to the Superintendent of Police (SP) Peshawar Cantonment area Mohamed Faisal, four to five bullets were fired from the area adjacent to Peshawar. One of the bullets hit the plane’s engine as well. The daughter of the deceased women was sitting next to her when her mother got shot.
Law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and launched an extensive search operation to look for the unidentified gunmen later identified as a member of Tariq Geedar group of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The group is said to have settled in Darra Adamkhel.
An official claimed to have some important leads in regard to this episode. According to the details, the rooftop of a school that had been closed due to summer vacation, located near Peshawar in Suliemankhel, was used to target the airbus as it landed at Bacha Khan International Airport. The watchman of the school was off duty on night of the firing. He further revealed that attackers had an extra barrel to an AK-47 rifle in order to enhance it fire range and they also used tracer bullets to guarantee that the target has been hit accurately.
Following the incident the security measures around the airport had been enhanced and further police workforce had also been deployed. A similar incident had taken place on December 15, 2012 when the terrorists attacked Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar killing four civilians and injuring more than 40 including senior citizens, women and children.
Police had brought in around 200 people from Nodeh Bala, Pishtakhara and Suliemankhel areas for questioning after the attack took place, who were later released. Officials had expanded the perimeter of the investigation after being provided with considerable leads by the intelligence agencies.
The airport is jointly managed by the Civil Aviation Authority and the air force. The airport also encompasses the army aviation base.
To prevent such incidents occurring in future, the security has upgraded all potential targets including the airports.
