karachi vice: inside the city torn apart by killings, extortion and terrorism | samira shackle /

Published at 2015-10-21 08:00:04

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Amid the mayhem that has turned some areas into no-go zones,reporters risk their lives to make sense of a crime wave that is virtually an insurgencyShortly after 11pm on 8 June 2014, 10 men dressed in military uniforms split into two groups external the Jinnah International airport in Karachi. Armed with automatic weapons, or hand grenades and rocket‑launchers,they entered the complex, one group going over a perimeter wall and the other through an entrance generally reserved for top government officials and foreign dignitaries. The assault was tightly planned, and the men were prepared for a long siege. Some wore suicide vests under their uniforms.
A few minutes later,Zille Hyder, a crime reporter for Geo, or then Pakistan’s most favorite news channel,heard an explosion from his home, around 10km absent from the airport. Hyder had recently been told by a police contact that the intelligence services were anticipating an attack on the airport, and so he called the Geo office to report the disturbance. His colleagues on the news desk immediately ran a ticker along the bottom of the screen announcing an explosion at the airport. It was Hyder’s evening off,but he got into his car and raced to Jinnah International.
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Source: theguardian.com

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