Pakistani airport closed because of terrorist threat

The international airport in the Pakistani city of Peshawar was shut down Wednesday after an intelligence report warned of a possible terrorist attack against civilian aircraft by a militant group based in an adjoining tribal region, officials said.

Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority reportedly cabled all national and international carriers Tuesday night to stop their flights to Peshawar International Airport effective Wednesday.

In another development, police announced their first arrest in a March attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the city of Lahore.

Lahore Police Chief Pervez Rathore told reporters that the suspect, Mohammed Zubair, was a member of the Punjabi Taliban, an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, accused of having ties to Al Qaeda.

Seven players were wounded and six policemen killed March 3 after militants attacked the team bus at a traffic roundabout with automatic weapons, a rocket and a grenade.

Rathore said Zubair confessed, and that the group had planned to take the cricket players hostage. The police chief said six other suspects were also identified but have eluded capture, perhaps after fleeing into the Waziristan region to the west or over Pakistan’s porous border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s military said Wednesday that it had killed 22 militants in the Swat Valley in the last day, including a local commander, as the army sought to wrap up a weeks-long offensive in that area of northwestern Pakistan before an expected push into Waziristan.

A security official said the Peshawar airport was shut down after an intelligence agency warned of a possible attack against passenger aircraft by a militant group based in the area around the nearby town of Darra Adam Khel.

The group, part of Pakistan’s homegrown Taliban movement, is led by Tariq Afridi, a militant previously associated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Afridi earlier threatened to attack passenger aircraft if the government didn’t halt its offensive against militants in tribal areas.

The deadline issued by Afridi in his latest ultimatum to the government expired Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the intelligence warning was based on an intercepted message or whether it was a precautionary measure.

Passengers were evacuated from the domestic and international departure lounges of the airport, and all flights were diverted to Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, the capital, about 100 miles to the east.

Civil aviation officials said the Peshawar airport was closed for “technical reasons” until midnight. But passengers said they were told by terminal staff there would be no flights for the next three days.

All entry points to the airport were closed, and passengers reported seeing troop movements. Hundreds of passengers waiting at the departure lounges were asked to leave the premises, and all outgoing flights were canceled.

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mark.magnier@latimes.com

Ali is a special correspondent.