Airport assault leaves 28 dead

Following an attack by 10 Taliban gunmen, Pakistan officials have reopened Karachi Airport, the country's busiest airport.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The June 8 attack left 28 people dead after the gunmen stormed a terminal building disguised as police officers, using machine guns and rocket launchers in a six-hour siege.

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Following the attacks, Pakistani officials have stepped up security at nuclear and military bases, as well as government offices, as they try to figure out how the gunmen infiltrated the terminal with such ease.

The Pakistani Taliban is an alliance of insurgent groups fighting to take over the government in order to set up a sharia Islam state, and they have claimed responsibility for the attack as retaliation for air strikes against Taliban strongholds near the Afghan border.

The Taliban's main goal of the attack was to hijack a plane said Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman.

The main goal of this attack was to damage the government, including by hijacking planes and destroying state installations," he said. "This was just an example of what we are capable of and there is more to come. The government should be ready for even worse attacks."

"It is a message to the Pakistan government that we are still alive to react over the killings of innocent people in bomb attacks on their villages."

Government-led peace talks between the local Taliban, other militants, and the government have stalled in recent weeks.

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