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Pakistan naval base siege close to an end
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Pakistan naval base siege close to an end
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By Faisal Aziz
KARACHI (Reuters) - Troops battled Taliban gunmen holed up in Pakistan's naval air force headquarters on Monday after the most audacious attack in the unstable, nuclear-armed country since the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Blasts rang...
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Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik speaks to the media outside Mehran naval aviation base, which was attacked by militants, in Karachi May 23, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Athar Hussain
By Faisal Aziz
KARACHI |
Mon May 23, 2011 3:36am EDT
KARACHI (Reuters) - Troops battled Taliban gunmen holed up in Pakistan's naval air force headquarters on Monday after the most audacious attack in the unstable, nuclear-armed country since the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Blasts rang out and helicopters hovered above the PNS Mehran base in the city of Karachi, nearly 12 hours after more than 20 Pakistani Taliban militants stormed the building with guns and grenades, blowing up at least one aircraft.
However, security officials and a senior minister said the operation appeared to be coming to an end.
"A major area has been cleared," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters. "The sweeping process is continuing."
The assault casts fresh doubt on the Pakistan military's ability to protect its bases following an attack on the army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi in 2009, and is a further embarrassment following the surprise raid by U.S. special forces on bin Laden's hideout north of Islamabad on May 2.
The Pakistan Taliban, which is allied with al Qaeda, said the attack was to avenge the al Qaeda leader's killing.
"It was the revenge of martyrdom of Osama bin Laden. It was the proof that we are still united and powerful," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Sporadic bouts of heavy gunfire erupted from the base as security forces battled to end the siege. Twelve military personnel were killed and 14 wounded in the assault that started at 10.30 p.m. on Sunday (1:30 p.m. EDT), a navy spokesman said.
"The operation is still on but resistance from militants has reduced significantly," spokesman Mohammad Yasir told Reuters. A security source said at least three militants had been killed.
GUNS, ROCKET-PROPELLED GRENADES
One security official said the militants had taken over a building in the base. Another official, contacted inside the base, denied reports that hostages had been taken, but added: "There is a chance that some terrorists have suicide belts or jackets."
The base is 15 miles from the Masroor Air Base, Pakistan's largest and a possible depot for nuclear weapons.
"They were carrying guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and hand grenades. They hit the aircraft with an RPG," Navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali said of the militants.
A spokesman said one P-3C Orion, a maritime patrol aircraft supplied by the United States, had been destroyed and another aircraft had been damaged.
Media reports said the attackers had made their way in through a sewer pipe but that was not confirmed.
TALIBAN DENIES MULLAH OMAR KILLED
Pakistan has faced a wave of assaults over the last few years, many of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
Others have been blamed on al Qaeda-linked militant groups once nurtured by the Pakistani military and which have since slipped out of control.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks since bin Laden's death, killing almost 80 people in a suicide bombing on a paramilitary academy and an assault on a U.S. consular vehicle in Peshawar.
The group also claimed responsibility for a botched plot to bomb New York's Times Square last year.
The TTP is led by Hakimullah Mehsud, whose fighters regularly clash with the army in the northwest, also widely believed to be a base for Afghan militants.
On Monday, an Afghan television station reported Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been killed in Pakistan, but the group denied it, saying he was safe and in Afghanistan.
Washington sees nuclear-armed Pakistan as a key, if difficult, ally essential to its attempts to root out militant forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan, however, sees militant groups as leverage in Afghanistan, and the discovery that bin Laden was living in the town of Abbottabad has revived suspicions that militants may be receiving help from within the security establishment.
Pakistan says its senior leadership did not know bin Laden's whereabouts, but his presence -- and his killing -- has strained already fragile ties United States and deeply embarrassed Pakistan's military.
The military, for its part, has come under intense pressure for allowing five U.S. helicopters to penetrate Pakistan's airspace and kill the al Qaeda leader.
Many U.S. lawmakers are questioning whether to cut the billions of dollars of aid Pakistan receives to help root out militants.
On Monday, the Pakistani rupee fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar, partly because of concerns that growing tensions with the West could choke off much needed foreign aid.
(Additional reporting by Chris Allbritton, Zeeshan Haider and Kamran Haider; Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by John Chalmers)
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We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.
Comments (4)
JamesChirico wrote:
The majority of even those that can read in Pakistan consider their support of U.S. forces in Afghanistan as wrong giving support to an enemy of Pakistan.
Khan a politician, said during thousands in Karachi protesting Pakistan’s government support of our obvious lies wholly believed. He said tens of thousands of innocent Pakistanis died in our drone attacks which number under 200 for years killing less than 25 people in every attack. He said Taliban militants were not in the country until our invasion of Afghanistan. They have been there since Charlie Wilson’s war when the Taliban drove out the Soviets.
Very few in Pakistan take the real world view. The extremists could start a Sunni/Shia war driving out the economic movers/professionals in a country having a desperate need of them. One Pakistani IMO got it right, his post from a Pakistan newspaper.
Nations which cannot distinguish between friends and enemies cannot survive in a world where only the fit survive and the weak stand no chance to save their skin from the ferocious claws of predators. This law of the jungle has been the chilling norm of international politics from the era of Greek city states to the present day. Pakistan must draw a bold and clear line between its well-wishers and its sworn enemies. Contrary to the traditionally manufactured mindset the USA, Israel and India etc are not the enemies of our country. The real enemies of Pakistan are the extremists.
I request politicians to please rise above their petty differences to defeat the mindset of extremism which poses an existential threat to the state.
B A Malik
Islamabad
May 22, 2011 9:07pm EDT -- Report as abuse
PCScipio wrote:
Bravo, Mr. Malik, bravo.
May 22, 2011 9:27pm EDT -- Report as abuse
frankysbride wrote:
Malik, that’s Lovely!!! Thank You! =)
May 22, 2011 11:10pm EDT -- Report as abuse
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