AKIPRESS.COM - Taliban militants disguised as security forces stormed Pakistan's busiest airport on Sunday and at least 27 people were killed in a night-long battle at one of the country's most high-profile targets, Reuters said Monday. 

The assault on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan's sprawling commercial hub of 18 million people, all but destroys prospects for peace talks between the Pakistani Taliban and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

It also deals a heavy blow to Sharif's efforts to attract foreign investors to revive economic growth and raises questions about security at the country's main installations.

The attack began just before midnight when 10 gunmen wearing military uniforms and armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades shot their way into the airport's old terminal, which is used mainly for charter and executive flights.

Gun battles raged through the night until security forces regained control of the airport at dawn. Passengers were evacuated and all flights were diverted.

Director general of the military's media wing, Asim Bajwa, said the airport had been cleared and would soon resume operations. The government said security was being stepped up at all airports.

"We need to keep extremely vigilant," Shujaat Azeem, special assistant to Sharif on aviation, said in a statement.

The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of insurgent groups fighting to topple the government and set up a sharia state, claimed responsibility, saying it was in response to army attacks on their strongholds along the Afghan border.

"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," said Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman.

Pakistan's paramilitary force said that the attackers were ethnic Uzbeks. Pakistani officials often blame foreign militants holed up in lawless areas on the Afghan border for staging attacks alongside the Pakistani Taliban around the country.

"Three militants blew themselves up and seven were killed by security forces," Rizwan Akhtar, the regional head of the paramilitary Rangers, said in televised remarks. "The militants appear to be Uzbek."

The death toll included airport security guards and workers with Pakistan International Airlines.