A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane has come under attack in Peshawar Airport. <br /><br />One woman, travelling with her young daughter, died after being shot in the head by gunmen who hit the airline with six bullets as it was landing. <br /><br />Mohammed Kifayatullah Kahn, a PIA official, described the scene: “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.<br /><br />“All the passengers were panicked. Some of them wanted to get out as soon as possible because they were afraid of fire inside the plane,” he added.<br /><br />Three crew members were injured in the assault. According to an airline official, the plane’s captain narrowly escaped being hit. <br /><br />Officials in the northern Pakistani city have tightened security around the airport.<br /><br />Critics say decades of neglect of the country’s ragged police force has left citizens vulnerable.<br /><br />The attack comes after officials announced a military operation to flush Taliban hardliners from their mountain strongholds in North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan.<br /><br />Pakistani jets have pounded suspected militants. The Taliban have promised counter attacks. <br /><br />Many are now asking whether the government in Islamabad is fully prepared for what could be the beginning of a Taliban backlash.
