Gunmen attack Pakistan air base, 9 dead

Islamabad – At least eight men, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, have stormed an air force base in Kamra, northwest of the Pakistani capital, killing one security official, officials say.

The eight attackers were also killed, a military spokesperson said, after the assault at the Minhas Air Base sparked a fierce firefight that lasted several hours.

Militants armed with guns and grenades attacked the base in Kamra, about 60 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, sparking a heavy battle with security forces early Thursday that lasted for several hours.

Commandos were called in to aid in the defence of the base, and police armoured personnel carriers were also involved in the operation to secure the facility.

Security forces opened fire on the attackers, some of whom were strapped with suicide bombing vests, as they approached aircraft hangars just before dawn on Thursday. The initial assault prompted other attackers to fire rocket-propelled grenades from outside the base’s walls, an air force spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

Base commander Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, who led the operation against the attackers, was wounded in the shoulder, but is in stable condition, said the spokesman.

“Security personnel are now in the process of scanning the entire area to check for the presence of any other miscreant,” he said.

Shortly after the attack began, at around 02:00 local time (21:000 GMT on Wednesday) a police officer outside the air base, Hafeez Aulakh, said he could hear intense gunfire and see flames leaping up from inside, the Associated Press news agency reported.
 
The attackers initially fired rocket-propelled grenades from outside, which damaged one aircraft.
 
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. In the past several years the Pakistani Taliban targeted a string of military bases.
 
Kamra is home to the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, which builds fighter jets.
 
In May 2011, militants attacked the Mehran naval air base in Karachi, killing 10 soldiers.
 
It took security forces about 17 hours to secure the base on that occasion.
 
In 2009 a suicide bomber killed six people at a military checkpoint in Kamra, in Punjab province.
 
Source: TOE www.timesofearth.com and agencies