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| Orion P-3 aircraft under fire at PNS Mehran Karachi |
KARACHI: Pakistan Navy Spokesman said that Pakistan Navy has regained control of a the Mehran base that had been attacked and occupied by militants for more than 15 hours.
Spokesman Salman Ali said Monday commandos were still searching the sprawling facility in Karachi but that “apparently there is no more militant resistance.”
He says the navy would not release details on militant casualties until the base had been fully searched.
Unknown intruders assaulted the headquarters of Pakistan’s naval air force, battling on Monday security forces in the most brazen attack in the country since the killing of Osama bin Laden, killing 13 people, injuring 16 others and blowing up at least two military aircraft, among the dead is 11 navy officials and two Rangers
Blasts rang out and helicopters hovered above the PNS Mehran base near Shahrah-e-Faisal almost 14 hours after more than 15 apparent militants stormed the heavily guarded building with guns and grenades, blowing up at least two aircrafts.
Trucks carrying military and paramilitary rangers streamed into the base in the southern city of Karachi in the morning, as security forces tried to end the siege.
Another official stationed in the base said the militants had not taken any hostages, but added: “There is a chance that some terrorists have suicide belts or jackets.”
Sixteen military men were wounded in the attack, some reports said that at least three militants had been killed while trying to flee but nothing has been confirmed so far.
“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 two P-3C Orion, maritime patrol aircraft, had been hit and that intermittent gunfire was continuing.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said earlier that the militants had attacked from the rear of the base. “We have been able to confine them to one building and an operation is underway either to kill or capture them,” he said.
Media reports said the attackers had made their way in through a sewer pipe but that was not confirmed. The military’s goal was to capture as many of the attackers alive as possible, television reported.
The attack evoked memories of an assault on Pakistan’s army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi in 2009, and is a further embarrassment for the military, widely seen as the only properly functioning institution in Pakistan, in the wake of bin Laden’s killing.
Pakistan has faced a wave of assaults over the last few years, which are generally in reaction to US Drone attacks and Pakistan's support for US in War against terror.
It is first time that militant have attacked any defence aircraft, which is a unique to South Asia, and questions arise that who will benefit from such attacks and finger goes towards India which have many links and presence in Pakistan's Baluchistan and Afghanistan region. India also support, funds and give militant training to many freedom parties in Pakistan including Tahrik Taliban Pakistan.
