Brussels, 10/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 9 June, the European Union strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Jinnah International Airport in Pakistan during the evening of Sunday 8 June. “The aim of that attack was clearly to destroy civilian aircraft and parts of the airport itself, putting innocent civilians and passengers' lives at risk”, said the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. “We support the efforts by the government of Pakistan to restore law and order in Karachi and, more generally, to fight terrorism with all necessary determination”, stated Ashton's spokesperson.
The Latvian minister for foreign affairs, Edgars Rinkevics, strongly condemned the terrorist attack by the Taliban, which again shows the “need to fight against terrorism”. His Lithuanian counterpart, Linas Linkevicius, also condemned this act of terrorism, which he described as a “hate crime”.
The airport was attacked during the night of 8-9 June by heavily armed members of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). The attack lasted for over 12 hours and reportedly left 37 dead - including ten of the attackers. Another attack took place on 10 June, without leaving any victims. TTP attacks have claimed over 6,000 lives since 2007. (CG)