Karachi, Pakistan ? An elite force of karate-kicking anti-terrorist fighters will begin riding on domestic Pakistani passenger jets this month. The new sky marshals are gaining attention in Pakistan’s conservative Islamic society not only for their skills but because they include nine women.

The first women sky marshals completed a 10-week course last month in hand-to-hand combat so grueling that some of their 49 male classmates dropped out. Only one woman failed to finish because she broke her wrist.

Pakistani sky marshals practice their martial-arts skills during a training session in Karachi. Nine Pakistani women and 50 men completed a 10-week unarmed combat and martial arts training course earlier this week, and they will be deployed at airports and on state-run Pakistan International Airline flights to combat hijacking and terrorism attempts.

The women say they’re ready to keep Pakistan safe from terrorist attacks. But they also see themselves as making inroads in a society where women are widely seen as separate and inferior to men.

“Passing this tough training proves that Pakistani women have the potential to show their skills in all fields that are considered the domain of men,” said one female graduate, Asma Khan, 22.

Part of the national airport police, Pakistan’s first batch of sky marshals all male were sent into duty after the 1981 hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines jet. Those first sky marshals were armed and eventually had to be taken off commercial jets after other countries protested.

However, after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States and fears that Pakistan would become a new terrorist battleground the sky marshals were revived, this time unarmed.

The first recruits finished a martial arts course taught by Pakistani army instructors July 22 and will begin flying in mid-August. Initially, they will be limited to domestic flights, but if the program is successful, officials say the sky marshals may start flying internationally as well.

The instructors said Khan and the other women were held to the same rigorous standards as men during the training, which included martial arts skills developed in Japan and Korea.

“This training is so tough that male recruits often quit, but the women trainees proved their will and determination and showed amazing courage,” said Maj. Hamid Raza, who led the army trainers.

They did so well that 10 more women will be included in the next batch of 70 sky marshals, Raza said. He said the number of women per class would likely be increased after that.

Before the sky marshal program was revived, female members of the airport police had been limited to less arduous and dangerous tasks such as operating passenger X-ray machines and doing body searches of female passengers.