The Security at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport has been beefed up following a bomb threat on board a Dubai-bound flight.
An emergency was declared on the Shaheen Air International flight NL-786 which was scheduled to depart from Peshawar at 2:30 pm.
Shaheen Air Station Manager Mushtaq has denied a bomb threat, saying the flight was suspended for “operational reasons”.
Civil Aviation Authority sources, however, confirmed the threat and said a search operation is under way.
The flight has been evacuated and a thorough search is being conducted of passengers and their luggage.
The Bomb Disposal Squad was called in to aid the search operation.
Security sources confirmed the flight has been offloaded and a security check is ongoing.
Since the Paris attacks which killed at least 129 people, there have been several bomb threats on flights around the world, causing panic among travellers and resulting in temporary delays, after which security at airports around the world has been beefed up.
This is, however, the first bomb threat on a flight in Pakistan following the Nov 13 attacks.
