By Zia Khan (DPA)

ISLAMABAD (DPA) — Pakistani security forces repulsed an attempt by Taliban militants Tuesday to storm a building adjacent to country's largest airport, just hours after fighter jets killed 25 militants in airstrikes in the north-west of the country.

It was the second attack in two days at Karachi's international airport in southern Pakistan, after insurgents killed 28 people in an ambitious assault on the airport that was brought to an end early Monday.

The Karachi attacks and airstrikes signalled a further increase in hostilities between the Pakistani military and the Taliban, after a period of relative calm when the government tried to engage militants in a peace process.

At least five gunmen fired shots at personnel guarding a hostel for female airport security officers in the latest attack, police official Munir Sheikh said.

The attackers fled after the guards returned fire, Sheikh said.

Flights from the Karachi's Jinnah International Airport resumed after a brief suspension, a civil aviation official said.

The military was called in to reinforce security in the vicinity of the airport and a massive manhunt was launched to kill or arrest the assailants, said Colonel Tahir Ali, a spokesman for the airport security forces.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack. "They were our men," tweeted militant commander Omar Khalid Khorasani, head of the group in Mohmand tribal district near Afghan border.

The death toll from the previous Taliban attack rose to 38, including 10 attackers, after at least seven more burned bodies were found at the airport, officials said.

"All the corpses recovered this morning were charred beyond recognition," said Doctor Sagheer Ahmed, the provincial health minister, "they were handed over to families after DNA testing."

Earlier Tuesday, at least 25 Islamist militants were killed when Pakistani fighter jets bombed their hideouts in the north-western region, the military said.

A military statement said nine hideouts were pounded in early morning strikes in Tirah valley of Khyber tribal district near Afghan border.

"We have confirmed reports that 15 militants are dead in latest airstrikes," a security official said, adding that the toll could increase.

The information could not be verified from independent sources as the area is inaccessible to journalists.

Last month, fighter jets killed more than 100 militants including some key Taliban commanders in the tribal area after a series of attacks against the military.

Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that the group was "at war" with the government and the military after the strikes.

Violence has surged in Pakistan after a government effort to engage Taliban in a peace process ended without making any significant progress.

YANGON (DPA) – Buses in Myanmar's largest city Yangon are to have female conductors for the first time, to improve the quality and safety of service, officials said Tuesday.

"We believe women are more suitable as conductors because they are more patient with commuters," said Myint Aung, a senior official at the Road Transport Administration Department.

The transport authorities have hired 19 women to be conductors, the department said, as part of a campaign to improve public transport.

"Its more difficult to regulate male conductors because after decades on the job they have become habituated to slack discipline," he said.

The hiring of women conductors is to address reported poor service and incidents of harassment on the city's crowded public transport.

The department is also hiring women drivers in response to rising accident rates.

Over the past five months there were 122 road accidents in Yangon, leaving 41 dead and 358 injured, according to state media.

There are currently 6,600 buses operating 352 routes in the former capital, Myanmar's largest city, estimated population 7.8 million.

Poor discipline among transport system staff is a main cause of congestion and accidents in Yangon, the Japan International Cooperation Agency said in a report last month.

The agency is working with city authorities on an urban transport plan which includes a new bus system, improved parking and training local officials in traffic and transport management.

By Zia Khan (DPA)

ISLAMABAD (DPA) —  A suicide car bomber killed four soldiers and wounded seven others in Pakistan's north-western tribal region on Monday, hours after the country's busiest airport was attacked by Islamist extremists.

"Four soldiers have been killed in an attack on a check post in North Waziristan," a military's statement said.

Earlier in the day flights resumed at Karachi International Airport in southern Pakistan after security forces repulsed an attack by Taliban fighters in an overnight gun battle that left 31 people dead.

"A domestic flight has just taken off for Islamabad" from the airport, civil aviation chief Shujaat Azeem announced, 16 hours after gunmen stormed the facility.

All 10 of the gunmen were among the 31 killed during the five-hour battle between security forces and Taliban militants, said General Rizwan Akhtar, the chief of the paramilitary Rangers force.

The Pakistani Taliban said their fighters carried out both the gun and bomb attack at the airport and the car bombing to avenge the killing of "innocent" people in airstrikes by security forces.

"It is a message to the Pakistan government that we are still alive," Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said after the first attack.

Around 100 Islamist militants, including some key Taliban commanders, were killed in May when Pakistani fighter jets pounded insurgents' hideouts in their tribal stronghold.

Fourteen members of the security forces and seven civilians were among the dead in the airport attack, said doctor Seemi Jamali at the city's Jinnah Medical Institute.

At least 25 people with bullet injuries were brought to the hospital, she said. Five of them were in a critical condition.

Analysts said the siege of the airport showed the Taliban still had the ability to stage spectacular attacks, despite setbacks in recent months, including the defection of a major faction.

"It is a statement by militants that they can still operate at will," said Irfan Shehzad, lead researcher at the Islamabad-based Institute of Policy Studies think tank.

"It reflects how grave the security risk is for Pakistan as international forces prepare to leave Afghanistan at the end of this year," Shehzad said.

Much of the Taliban network is believed to operate out of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

Karachi is Pakistan's most populous city and the capital of Sindh province.

Akhtar said terrorists wearing suicide vests and dressed in police uniform entered the airport in two groups of five and set ablaze a terminal used for cargo.

Seven of them were killed in a gun battle with military commandos, while three blew themselves up when surrounded by soldiers, he added.

The Pakistani Taliban have launched similar attacks in the past, but mostly against military facilities. In 2011, militants laid siege to the city's naval base for 18 hours, killing at least 10 people.

The Taliban have been waging a deadly insurgency since 2003 in Pakistan, killing over 40,000.

The government airstrikes in May came after months of efforts to engage the Taliban in a peace process ended without any significant headway.