Police engage in gunbattle with Pakistan militants at airport

Police are engaged in a gunbattle with militants believed to have been involved in an attack on the military side of an international airport in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Police officer Shafqat Malik said the militants are holed up in a village two miles from the airport. He said one police officer and one militant died in the fighting this morning.

An eyewitness told local TV five militants were holed up in an unfinished house in the village. He did not provide his name.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack on the airport on Saturday night.

Four civilians were killed and over 40 injured in that attack, local hospital official Umar Ayub said. The military has said five militants were killed.

AP