Bullet Hit Airlines Passenger Plane As It Land

A woman passenger has been killed after gunmen opened fire at a plane landing at Peshawar airport in Pakistan.

Five bullets hit the Pakistan International Airlines aircraft as it was about to touch down at the airport in the country's volatile northwest.

A female passenger on board the plane died in hospital, said Mashood Tajwar, a spokesman for the airline.

Two other people were also wounded on board the flight, which was on its way from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia with more than 170 passengers on board.

Mr Tajwar told AFP: "The shots were fired from outside the airport, one lady passenger and two stewards were wounded, the woman later died in the hospital." 

Authorities were scouring the area around the airport to find whoever was responsible.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion is likely to fall on militants that the government has been fighting in the country's northwest.

On June 15, the military launched an operation against militants using the country's North Waziristan tribal area to attack targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

More than 300 people described by the government as militants have been killed.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees have poured out of North Waziristan since the operation started.

People across Pakistan have been bracing for reprisal attacks ever since the operation started.

The operation came after the Pakistani Taliban and an Uzbek militant group attacked the hospital in the southern port city of Karachi.

During the audacious attack, gunmen battled with airport security and other law enforcement authorities for roughly five hours.

The mayhem at Pakistan's largest airport shocked the country and raised questions about the security of other airports around the country.