At Least 6 Airlines Cancel Operations In Peshawar, Sharif Revokes Death Penalty Ban On Terrorists

Six foreign airlines have reportedly stopped their operations in Peshawar, Pakistan, after a deadly Taliban attack at an army-run school in the city on Tuesday killed 141 people, mostly children. Reports also said that the crew working for the Pakistan International Airlines-leased airplanes, also refused to fly to Peshawar after the attack.

According to a report by ARY News, a local news network, the airline companies have informed the country's civil aviation authority, that they will not send flights to Peshawar due to security reasons. The airlines have also reportedly asked their employees in Peshawar to shift to Islamabad following Tuesday's massacre, involving six militants. Tehreek-e-Taliban has reportedly taken responsibility for the attack.

International airlines Emirates, said in a statement on Wednesday, that it is ceasing its Peshawar operations "until further notice," Pakistan daily Dawn reported.

The airline said: "We can confirm that we are suspending our flights to Peshawar for operational reasons. This will take effect immediately (from 16 December) until further notice."

Etihad Airways, another UAE-based airline, has also reportedly suspended flights to the northern city of Pakistan following the attack that killed over 130 children.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who reached Peshawar on Tuesday, ordered a three-day mourning period and condemned the attack saying it was a "national tragedy unleashed by savages." Sharif on Wednesday also lifted the ban on capital punishment for terrorists following the attack, Geo TV, a local news network, reported.

“We must fight the war on terror keeping the tearful faces of the children and parents that we saw yesterday,” Sharif said Wednesday, in an address, according to NDTV, an Indian news network, adding: “Operation against terrorists will go on.”