An operation to regain control of a Pakistani naval base assaulted by Taliban militants has been completed after almost 16 hours of fighting with up to 20 assailants holed up in a building, a security official told Reuters from inside the base.
Taliban gunmen armed with rockets and explosives had stormed a major naval air base in the heart of Pakistan’s city of Karachi, destroying two US-made surveillance aircrafts and killing 13 personnel.
“The operation is over. The main building has been cleared,” the official said. “For precaution, we are continuing search around for any more terrorists but the main operation is over.”
It was the worst assault on a military base since the army headquarters was besieged in October 2009, piling further embarrassment on the armed forces three weeks after Osama Bin Laden was found living under their noses.
“It was the revenge of martyrdom of Osama Bin Laden. It was the proof that we are still united and powerful,” Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Up to 20 militants crept into the base in the teeming port city of Karachi from three sides under the cover of night late Sunday, officials said, triggering gunbattles and a series of explosions.
More than 30 troops entered the PNS Mehran base in the southern city of Karachi earlier as the battle resumed and eight blasts were heard in the space of 30 minutes, according to Agence-France Presse.
Scores of people were wounded in the attack on one of the country’s most heavily guarded military installations, where jet fuel tanks appeared to have caught fire and exploded, according to Reuters.
“They were carrying guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and hand grenades. They hit the aircraft with an RPG,” Navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali said earlier.
The Taliban spokesman earlier said that the team of militants they sent into Karachi’s PNS Mehran naval base Sunday night had enough supplies to survive a three-day siege.
“They have enough ammunition and food and they can fight and survive for three days,” Taliban spokesman said.
He said up to 22 militants were assigned to launch the attack. Accounts are unclear, but up to five militants may have been killed by Pakistani troops. The remaining were holed up in a building on the base exchanging fire with commandos.
“Our estimate is 10-15 terrorists are inside the base,” said Naval spokesman Mohammad Yasir.
The Karachi attack evoked memories of an assault on Pakistan’s army headquarters in the town of Rawalpindi in 2009, and revived concerns that even the most well guarded installations in the country remain vulnerable to militants.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the “terrorists” sneaked into the base from three points adjacent to residential areas in the city of 16 million people, whose port is a vital hub for NATO supplies bound for Afghanistan.
“The situation is being tackled delicately to secure assets, minimize human losses and defeat the terrorists completely,” he said, according to Agence-France Presse.
“It is not just an attack on a navy establishment, it is an attack on Pakistan,” Mr. Malik added, warning that those who sympathize with the Taliban and Al Qaeda should instead “join hands with us to save our country.”
Media reports said the attackers had made their way in through a sewer line, but that was not confirmed. The military’s goal is to capture as many of the attackers alive as possible, Pakistan television reported.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack.
“Such a cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism,” Mr. Gilani said in statement.
Pakistan has faced a wave of bombings and gun assaults over the last few years, some of them claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban.
Others have been blamed on Al Qaeda-linked militant groups once nurtured by the Pakistani military which have since slipped out of control.
The discovery that Bin Laden was living in the garrison town of Abbottabad, not far from the Pakistan Military Academy, has revived suspicions that militants may be receiving help from some people within the security establishment.
Pakistan and the United States say the senior leadership in the country did not know Bin Laden was in Abbottabad.
Washington sees nuclear-armed Pakistan as a key, if troubled, ally in the region essential to its attempts to root out militant forces in Afghanistan.
“We condemn the attack and our sympathies are with the families of those injured or killed,” the White House in Washington said in a statement.
Karachi is Pakistan’s financial capital and its port is used by NATO to ship supplies to the estimated 130,000 US-led foreign troops fighting the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
The city has recently seen a spike in attacks on the military. On April 28, four naval personnel and a passing motorcyclist were killed in a bombing, two days after four other people were killed in navy bus bombings.
Last week, a Saudi diplomat was shot dead as he drove to the Saudi consulate in Karachi just days after attackers threw grenades at the mission.
On Sunday, thousands of people demonstrated in Karachi to demand an immediate end to US missile strikes in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt on the Afghan border and a block on NATO supplies passing through the country.
Despite anger in Pakistan over Bin Laden’s killing, US President Barack Obama said in a BBC interview broadcast on Sunday that he was ready to order a similar mission if another high-value target was discovered in Pakistan, or anywhere else.
“The operation is over. The main building has been cleared,” the official said. “For precaution, we are continuing search around for any more terrorists but the main operation is over.”
It was the worst assault on a military base since the army headquarters was besieged in October 2009, piling further embarrassment on the armed forces three weeks after Osama Bin Laden was found living under their noses.
“It was the revenge of martyrdom of Osama Bin Laden. It was the proof that we are still united and powerful,” Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Up to 20 militants crept into the base in the teeming port city of Karachi from three sides under the cover of night late Sunday, officials said, triggering gunbattles and a series of explosions.
More than 30 troops entered the PNS Mehran base in the southern city of Karachi earlier as the battle resumed and eight blasts were heard in the space of 30 minutes, according to Agence-France Presse.
Scores of people were wounded in the attack on one of the country’s most heavily guarded military installations, where jet fuel tanks appeared to have caught fire and exploded, according to Reuters.
“They were carrying guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and hand grenades. They hit the aircraft with an RPG,” Navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali said earlier.
The Taliban spokesman earlier said that the team of militants they sent into Karachi’s PNS Mehran naval base Sunday night had enough supplies to survive a three-day siege.
“They have enough ammunition and food and they can fight and survive for three days,” Taliban spokesman said.
He said up to 22 militants were assigned to launch the attack. Accounts are unclear, but up to five militants may have been killed by Pakistani troops. The remaining were holed up in a building on the base exchanging fire with commandos.
“Our estimate is 10-15 terrorists are inside the base,” said Naval spokesman Mohammad Yasir.
The Karachi attack evoked memories of an assault on Pakistan’s army headquarters in the town of Rawalpindi in 2009, and revived concerns that even the most well guarded installations in the country remain vulnerable to militants.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the “terrorists” sneaked into the base from three points adjacent to residential areas in the city of 16 million people, whose port is a vital hub for NATO supplies bound for Afghanistan.
“The situation is being tackled delicately to secure assets, minimize human losses and defeat the terrorists completely,” he said, according to Agence-France Presse.
“It is not just an attack on a navy establishment, it is an attack on Pakistan,” Mr. Malik added, warning that those who sympathize with the Taliban and Al Qaeda should instead “join hands with us to save our country.”
Media reports said the attackers had made their way in through a sewer line, but that was not confirmed. The military’s goal is to capture as many of the attackers alive as possible, Pakistan television reported.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack.
“Such a cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism,” Mr. Gilani said in statement.
Pakistan has faced a wave of bombings and gun assaults over the last few years, some of them claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban.
Others have been blamed on Al Qaeda-linked militant groups once nurtured by the Pakistani military which have since slipped out of control.
The discovery that Bin Laden was living in the garrison town of Abbottabad, not far from the Pakistan Military Academy, has revived suspicions that militants may be receiving help from some people within the security establishment.
Pakistan and the United States say the senior leadership in the country did not know Bin Laden was in Abbottabad.
Washington sees nuclear-armed Pakistan as a key, if troubled, ally in the region essential to its attempts to root out militant forces in Afghanistan.
“We condemn the attack and our sympathies are with the families of those injured or killed,” the White House in Washington said in a statement.
Karachi is Pakistan’s financial capital and its port is used by NATO to ship supplies to the estimated 130,000 US-led foreign troops fighting the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
The city has recently seen a spike in attacks on the military. On April 28, four naval personnel and a passing motorcyclist were killed in a bombing, two days after four other people were killed in navy bus bombings.
Last week, a Saudi diplomat was shot dead as he drove to the Saudi consulate in Karachi just days after attackers threw grenades at the mission.
On Sunday, thousands of people demonstrated in Karachi to demand an immediate end to US missile strikes in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt on the Afghan border and a block on NATO supplies passing through the country.
Despite anger in Pakistan over Bin Laden’s killing, US President Barack Obama said in a BBC interview broadcast on Sunday that he was ready to order a similar mission if another high-value target was discovered in Pakistan, or anywhere else.
Source: Al Arabiya with Agencies
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