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Taliban attack on Pakistan base kills 29
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A brazen Taliban attack on a Pakistani military base on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar killed at least 29 people yesterday, including 16 worshippers who were gunned down when the militants stormed a mosque inside the compound during prayers.
The attack triggered an hours-long firefight at the base and the Pakistani forces said they killed 13 of the attackers, though it was unclear how many were involved in the assault.
Apart from the 16 slain inside the mosque, 13 air force and army employees at the base were also killed by the militants, said army spokesman General Asim Saleem Bajwa.
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.
In yesterday’s assault, the attackers first stormed the guard room of the Badaber base, according to air force officials. The base was established in 1960s as an air force facility but has in recent years mostly been used as residences for air force employees and officers from Peshawar.
Bajwa said the militants entered the base from different directions in a two-pronged assault — apparently one push targeted the mosque — but that security forces quickly responded. He also said at least 29 people were wounded in the firefight.
He insisted the assault was quickly repulsed because of the timely and coordinated action by the security forces. Later, he told reporters at a news conference in Peshawar “the attackers came from Afghanistan,” though he stressed he did not mean that the government in Kabul was behind the assault. He declined to provide more details on that claim. There was no immediate response from Afghanistan.
One of the wounded security officials, Mohammad Rizwan, said he was coming out of the mosque when he was hit by a bullet.
“I fell down and I saw some of the attackers, but I don’t know what happened later, I fell unconscious,” he said.
A wounded soldier, Akram Ullah, said from his hospital bed that he was inside the mosque and that he remembers seeing a gunman with a grenade come in.
Fayaz Hussain Chaudhry, father of slain army Captain Asfand Yar, told the Dunya news TV station that his son gave his life for his country. “He fought at the front of the battle today and he killed terrorists,” he said.
Shortly after the attack, a suspected US 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.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the country’s powerful army chief, General Raheel Sharif, rushed to Peshawar and attended some of the funerals of the victims. According to Muslim tradition, the deceased are buried as soon as possible.
Earlier, the army chief met with the security forces taking part in the clearing operation at the base and also visited a military hospital where doctors were treating soldiers wounded in the attack.
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