Smoke rises from Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday, June 9, after militants launched an attack in the cargo area. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the five-hour-long assault that killed at least 28 people and injured more than 20 others. 
Employees leave the airport June 9 after the attack. The Pakistani prime minister's office said flights will resume Monday evening at the country's largest and busiest airport. 
Police examine bodies of security personnel at a Karachi hospital on June 9. Eight members of airport security forces were among the dead. 
A police commando gives a victory sign June 9 after returning from an operation against militants at the Karachi airport. 
Pakistani police display weapons seized from militants in the attack on June 9. 
A Pakistani soldier is on guard at the airport Sunday, June 8. A building caught fire in the attack, but no planes were damaged, a military spokesman said. 
Pakistani security officials take positions June 8 after the attack began. 
Pakistani rangers check ambulance staff at a boundary wall at the airport. 
Pakistani security personnel arrive at the site of the airport attack on June 8. 
Fire illuminates the sky above a terminal at the Karachi airport, Pakistan's largest and busiest. 
Smoke rises from a fire at the airport. 
Pakistani commandos get ready to enter an airport terminal. 
Soldiers approach Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. 
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- NEW: Rescuers are trying to reach cargo workers trapped in a cold storage facility
- NEW: 29 people were killed in the airport attack, including 10 militants, officials say
- Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, says the attack is revenge for the death of Hakimullah Mehsud
- Mehsud, a former TTP chief, was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2013
Karachi, Pakistan (CNN) -- Rescuers are trying to reach cargo workers who remain trapped inside a cold storage facility at Karachi's international airport a day after a deadly militant attack there.
Authorities are working to rescue seven employees from a private cargo company, said Sindh province Gov. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan.
Pakistan's civil aviation authority said at least five cargo workers were missing. An airport spokesman said two cargo worker's bodies had been found in a cold storage compartment.
Families of the missing workers blocked a busy road leading to the airport, demanding that authorities help find their relatives, CNN affiliate Geo TV reported.
"We will work to investigate any negligence in rescue efforts by the authorities and those found guilty of negligence will be punished accordingly," Khan said.
The rescue operation unfolded nearly a day after terrorists entered Jinnah International Airport at two spots with a plan to destroy a group of parked airplanes and "bring down our aviation industry," according to the Pakistani government.
It was late Sunday night, and the militants were armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests. They went into the cargo area, about a kilometer (0.62 miles) from where commercial planes take off.
In a "heroic" effort, security forces "laid down their lives" to block the terminal and stop the attackers, surrounding them and killing all of them, the prime minister's office said.
There were 10 terrorists, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said, and two of them detonated suicide vests.
Militants attack Karachi airport 
Militants storm parts of Karachi airport 
Karachi Airport under siege 
Gunmen attack Karachi airport By the time the attack was over, officials said 29 people were dead, including 10 militants. Another 24 people were injured, the military said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault on the country's largest and busiest airport.
Speaking from an undisclosed location, Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Bahar said the attack was retaliation for the death of former chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in November in North Waziristan.
Bahar warned more attacks will follow.
"As long as we are breathing, our attacks will be continuing 'til the end of our lives," he vowed.
Fire followed attack
A building caught fire in the attack, but no planes were damaged, Bajwa said. The airport reopened Monday.
Some Pakistani media reported a renewed gunbattle at the airport later Monday morning. But officials told CNN the noise was from fire-heated chemical containers exploding.
Still, as a precaution, security forces opened fire, said Ahmad Chinoy of the Citizen's Police Liaison Committee. He said he was 100% sure there were no militants left in the airport.
Several days ago, Pakistan's government had warned provincial officials of a possible "high-profile attack on a sensitive or key installation," said Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of Sindh province. But the warning, he said, did not mention the airport.
'We felt like sitting ducks'
Farooq Sattar, a member of parliament, was on a plane at the airport when the attack took place.
"My aircraft was on the tarmac ready to take off when suddenly, from what I understand, a message came to the pilot saying to get off the runway and return to the gate," Sattar said. "I heard shots and saw smoke."
"Before the pilot could announce anything, I had text messages blowing up my phone saying 'Karachi airport under attack.' We were in the aircraft for three hours, full of fuel. They locked the doors.
"The airport was poorly guarded. It was only due to some airport security personnel that the attack got thwarted and the militants didn't make it to our part of the airport. Passengers were extremely nervous. They started looking at me for answers."
"We felt like sitting ducks on the tarmac," he added.
Two crew members who were on their first ever flight "freaked out," Sattar said.
History of terror
The Pakistani Taliban, which is formally known as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, has long conducted an insurgency against the Pakistani government.
"Their primary target is the Pakistani state and its military," said Raza Rumi of the Jinnah Institute, a Pakistani think tank.
"It resents the fact that (Pakistan) has an alliance with the West, and it wants Sharia to be imposed in Pakistan."
The group claimed responsibility for a December 2009 suicide bombing at the United States' Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan.
The attack killed seven U.S. citizens, including five CIA officers and a member of Jordanian intelligence.
The U.S. Justice Department charged Mehsud in 2010 for his alleged involvement in the attack.
Mehsud took over from Baitullah Mehsud, a fellow clan member, in 2009 after the latter was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Four years later, Hakimullah Mehsud suffered the same fate.
More claims and threats
Another TTP member claimed the Pakistani government has been "abducting and killing innocent people," and explained why the airport was targeted.
"We chose a location where there would be less civilian and more official casualties," TTP representative Shahidullah Shahid said.
Shahid warned the group will engage "in a full-out war with the Pakistani state, starting on June 10."
But "if even now the Pakistani government backs down," Shahid said, "we are ready to engage in meaningful dialogue."
Karachi airport attackers were disguised as security workers
More violence
The airport wasn't the only site of violence in Pakistan on Sunday.
Twin suicide attacks near the border with Iran left 24 people dead, including four terrorists, authorities said. Qambar Dashti, commissioner of the Quetta Division, said two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a hotel where dozens of Shia pilgrims from Iran were staying.
Dashti said 14 out of 18 wounded pilgrims were in critical condition.
Extremist Sunni militant group Jaish el-Islam, a splinter group of Lashkar e Jhangvi, claimed responsibility.
On Monday, while Karachi operated as usual, there was violence in other parts of the country.
Three soldiers were killed and many others were wounded in a suspected suicide attack at a checkpoint in North Waziristan, military officials said.
What's behind Karachi airport attack?
Sophia Saifi reported from Karachi; Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta; and Saleem Mehsud reported from Islamabad. Zahir Shah Shirazi reported from Peshawar. CNN's Saima Mohsin, Sanjay Gupta, Catherine E. Shoichet and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.
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