Taliban attack Pakistani air force base; 13 attackers killed

RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press

MUNIR AHMED, Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban launched a brazen assault on a military base on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar early Friday, triggering a firefight that killed at least one person and wounded 20, including 10 soldiers. Thirteen attackers were killed in the shootout, officials said.

The attack on the Badaber base came as the army has been carrying out a major offensive against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan, a northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The military had stepped up operations against the Taliban and other militants there following the Pakistani Taliban attacked a school in Peshawar last December that killed 150 people, mostly children.

Shortly after the attack, a suspected U.S. drone strike hit a home in the South Waziristan tribal region, 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 speak to media on the record.

In Friday's assault, the attackers stormed the guard room of the base, located on the edge of the city of Peshawar. The base, established in 1960s as an air force facility, has not been operational for years and was mostly used as a residential place for air force employees and officers from Peshawar, according to air force officials.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said 13 attackers were killed by the security forces. He said the attack was quickly repulsed and that the "bodies of the slain terrorist" were lying on the ground in the compound of base. He said the attackers entered the base from two points but that security forces quickly responded.

It was unclear how many attackers were involved and if some got away.

In Tweets on social media, Bajwa said the country's powerful army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, rushed to Peshawar to meet with the security forces taking part in the clearing operation. He said Sharif will visit a military hospital where doctors were treating soldiers wounded in the attack.

Bajwa said 10 soldiers, including two officers, were wounded. A rescue officer said they transported at least 20 wounded to hospitals. The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said there were no immediate reports of women or children among the wounded.

Asad Qaiser, the acting provincial governor, told local TV stations that one person was killed by the attackers but did not say whether he was a soldier or civilian.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Mohamad Khurasani, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement to the media, he said Taliban fighters offered "safe passage" to women and children after attacking the base. He said they "targeted" 50 security forces, without explaining what that meant.

TV footage showed army helicopters hovering near the base, as police and troops surrounded the area. Local police officer Shahid Khan Bangash said a large explosion was heard after the militants tried to storm the base. "We are hearing that the attackers were armed with guns and rockets," he said.

Bangash said the attackers threw grenades at the guard room but were unable to enter the main area.

Later in the morning, he said the firing had stopped and a search operation for the militants who might still be hiding in the area was under way. He did not say how many attackers were involved.

Air force chief Sohail Aman had briefed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the attack, the air force said.

Friday's attack came a day after Pakistan reported the arrest a militant figure behind a recent failed attempt to target an air force facility in Kamra, also in the northwest of the country. Counter-terrorism officer Junaid Khan in the southern port city of Karachi, where the raid took place, identified the suspect as Umar Hayat and said he was being questioned.

OnThursday, the Pakistani police in Karachi also reported the arrest of another prominent suspect, Syed Sheaba Ahmad, a former air force pilot who allegedly helped finance al-Qaida's newly formed South Asian affiliate.

The Pakistan air force has been playing an important role in the fight against terrorism since June 2014, when the army launched the much-awaited operation in North Waziristan. The air force frequently target militant hideouts in the tribal area and elsewhere.

The army says it has killed more than 3,000 militants so far in the North Waziristan offensive. The region was once considered to be the headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban who have been targeting security forces and public places in an effort to topple the elected government to enforce harsher version of Islam.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad.