Emirates airline suspends flights to Peshawar

Dubai’s flagship airline Emirates has suspended flights to and from Peshawar effective from Wednesday because of the security situation in the Pakistani city, the carrier said.

Flights are suspended until further notice and passengers will be rebooked on alternative Emirates flights, it said.

On Tuesday night, gunmen fired on a Pakistan International Airlines plane as it was landing in Peshawar, killing a woman on board and injuring three crew members in the third incident at a Pakistani airport this month.

The plane was carrying 178 passengers travelling from Saudi Arabia when it came under attack, policeman Asghar Khan said at the airport.

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The plane was hit by six bullets, police said, killing the Pakistani woman and narrowly missing the captain. At least one bullet struck the plane’s engine, police said.

The woman’s daughter was sitting next to her when she was shot in the head, PIA official Mohammad Kifayatullah Khan said.

“When I went inside the plane, I saw the woman lying on the seat and her nine-year-old daughter was crying, ‘My mother is dead, my mother is dead’,” said Khan.

The incident will raise further questions about whether the government is really prepared to retaliate against the Taleban after it announced a military operation to flush the militants from their mountain strongholds in North Waziristan on June 15.

• UAE