Dozens killed in attack on Pakistani military
All 13 suspected Taliban attackers die in firefight
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN— Suspected Taliban militants launched a brazen attack on a Pakistani military base Friday, killing 29 people including 16 who were gunned down inside a mosque during prayers.
The Pakistani army quickly blamed militants from neighbouring Afghanistan, which Islamabad routinely accuses of harbouring terrorists who launch attacks across their porous border.
The attack was a major blow to Pakistan’s military, which had stepped up operations against militants following a horrific Taliban attack last December at a Peshawar school that killed 150 people, mostly children. It also underscored the ability of the militants to stage spectacular attacks on targets linked to the country’s military and government.
All 13 attackers were killed after an hours-long firefight at the Badaber base on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, army spokesman Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said. In addition to the dead, another 29 people were wounded.
More than 2,000 employees were on the base at the time of the attack, Bajwa said. The attackers first stormed the guard room and then tried to move toward its administrative block, but were stopped by security forces, he said.
The base was established in 1960s but in recent years has mostly been used as a residence for air force employees and officers from Peshawar.
Bajwa said the assault was quickly repulsed because of timely and coordinated action by security forces. He told reporters in Peshawar that “the attackers came from Afghanistan,” though he stressed he did not mean that the government in Kabul was behind the assault.
Intercepted communications indicated that the attackers were being handled by superiors in Afghanistan, he said, but would not elaborate further because Pakistan’s spy agency was investigating the evidence. It was also possible that the attackers were assisted by someone on the inside, he added. There was no immediate response from Afghanistan.
Aspokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Mohamad Khurasani, claimed responsibility for the attack. The attackers offered “safe passage” to women and children after attacking the base, Khurasani said. He added that the Taliban “targeted” 50 security forces, without explaining what that meant.
The Pakistani Taliban also released a video in which militant leader Khalifa Umar Mansoor is seen sitting among the alleged attackers. He said he was in charge of the attack and that the purpose was to avenge Pakistani military bombardment of mosques and the killing of civilians in tribal regions, as well as the humiliation of seminary students in cities.
He said the attack was ordered by Mullah Fazlullah, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban whom Pakistan says is hiding in Afghanistan. Pakistan wants Kabul to arrest Fazlullah as he is accused of numerous of acts of terrorism in Pakistan.
A wounded security official, Mohammad Rizwan, said he was com- ing out of the mosque when he was hit by a bullet. Another victim, Akram Ullah, said from his hospital bed that he was inside the mosque and remembered seeing a gunman with a grenade enter the building.
Shortly after the attack, a suspected U.S. drone strike hit a home in the South Waziristan tribal region, south of Peshawar, killing at least three militants and wounding five, according to two Pakistani security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Friday’s attack came a day after Pakistan reported the arrest of a militant figure behind a recent failed attempt to target an air force facility in Kamra, also in Pakistan’s northwest. The suspect, Umar Hayat, was currently being questioned, said counterterrorism officer Junaid Khan in the southern port city of Karachi, where the arrest took place.
Also Thursday, police in Karachi reported the arrest of Syed Sheaba Ahmad, a former air force pilot who allegedly helped finance al-Qaeda’s newly formed South Asian affiliate.