Pakistan plane fired on during Peshawar landing

Gunmen have opened fire on a passenger plane arriving at Peshawar airport in Pakistan, the BBC reported, citing police.

The Pakistan International Airlines flight PK756 had been carrying about 178 passengers from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

One female passenger was killed and two crew members were injured.

A deadly attack by militants on Karachi airport this month sparked an army offensive against insurgent positions in the North Waziristan region.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said security forces had cordoned off the Bacha Khan airport site in Peshawar and had launched a hunt for the gunmen.

It reported that an injured flight attendant had been taken to hospital but that one woman had died of her injuries on the way.

Police officer Dost Muhammad Khan told Associated Press five bullets had hit the plane.

The jet suffered a heavy landing, injuring a number of other passengers.

PIA official Mohammad Kifayatullah Khan told Reuters he had entered the plane and saw the fatally injured woman on her seat.

He said: "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."