<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-22/explosions-firefights-erupt-at-pakistani-naval-aviation-base-under-attack.html> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-22/explosions-firefights-erupt-at-pakistani-naval-aviation-base-under-attack.html
Pakistan Gun Battle Rages By Khurrum Anis and Farhan Sharif - May 22, 2011 6:10 PM PT · · · <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-22/explosions-firefights-erupt-at-pakistani-naval-aviation-base-under-attack.html> inShare · <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-22/explosions-firefights-erupt-at-pakistani-naval-aviation-base-under-attack.html#share> More · <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-05-22/explosions-firefights-erupt-at-pakistani-naval-aviation-base-under-attack.html> Print · <mailto:?body=A%20gun%20battle%20raged%20at%20a%20Pakistani%0Anaval%20air%20base%20in%20Karachi%20after%20militants%20stormed%20the%20premises%0Awith%20rockets%20and%20grenades%20targeting%20surveillance%20aircraft%0Aprovided%20by%20the%20U.S.%2C%20the%20biggest%20such%20attack%20in%2018%20months.%0A%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fbloom.bg%2FmlB99y&subject=Bloomberg%20news%3A%20Pakistan%20Gun%20Battle%20Rages> Email Pakistan Gun Battle Rages as Militants Storm Naval Air Base <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=iGBESP0uSSVs> Flames and smoke belch out from a Pakistani naval air base after an attack by terrorists in Karachi, on May 22, 2011. Photographer: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images Pakistan Gun Battle Rages as Militants Storm Naval Air Base <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=iIHFXJKKZnEo> Pakistani paramilitary soldiers arrive at a naval air base following an attack by terrorists in Karachi, early on May 23, 2011. Photographer: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=iBEB7HOGWPTQ> Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik. Photographer: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images A gun battle raged at a Pakistani naval air base in Karachi after militants stormed the premises with rockets and grenades targeting surveillance aircraft provided by the U.S., the biggest such attack in 18 months. “They have captured one building, our forces are fighting them and there may be hostages inside,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Karachi. “Al-Qaeda and Taliban are enemies of Pakistan and are trying to destroy our assets.” Army and Navy commandos were fighting between 10 and 15 militants, and “guarding assets inside the base which are all safe,” Navy spokesman Irfan Ul Haq said by phone from Islamabad. Four navy personnel were killed and 9 were injured, he said. Pakistani Taliban had pledged to attack government and military installations after U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda leader <http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Osama%20bin%20Laden&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja> Osama bin Laden in a raid in Abbottabad, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Islamabad, on May 2. The American raid exacerbated tensions between the two countries, as the U.S. questioned whether Pakistani officials had protected bin Laden and Pakistan protested the violation of its territory. Last night’s attack began with several explosions at the Mehran naval base around 11 p.m., followed by gunfire. More explosions were heard at 5 a.m. local time along with sporadic gunfire. The assault was the biggest raid on Pakistan’s military since guerillas attacked the Rawalpindi headquarters of the army in October 2009. ‘Final Assault’ Pakistani commandos were preparing for a “final assault” on militants inside the base after daybreak, Mohammed Yasir, a spokesman for the military, said by phone. Two P-3C Orion, a maritime surveillance aircraft, were targeted and destroyed in the attack, Haq said. The U.S. handed over the aircraft to the Pakistan navy in April 2010 and said it will give a total of eight by 2012, according to the U.S. Central Command <http://www.centcom.mil/news/pakistan-navy-accepts-two-p-3c-orion-aircraft> website. Trucks carrying soldiers entered the base soon after the attack. Flames and black smoke rose into the air and dozens of ambulances waited outside the base. Tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan have escalated with American officials saying they were worried that Pakistan’s intelligence agency maintains ties to guerrillas fighting American-led forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. military says its war against the Taliban is hindered by Pakistan’s failure to shut down militant havens. Drone Attacks Also straining relations is Pakistan’s opposition to U.S. drone attacks on Taliban targets that have killed civilians and American insistence that the strikes continue. Pakistan’s leaders have rejected accusations they are not doing enough to defeat insurgents. The army’s offensives against the local Taliban movement and allied guerrillas have triggered retaliatory bombings and gun battles in cities nationwide that the government says have killed thousands of Pakistani citizens and security personnel. Twin bombings on May 13 at a Pakistani paramilitary police academy killed 80 people in what the Pakistan Taliban said was in part revenge for the killing of <http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=bin%20Laden&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja> bin Laden and a precursor to attacks against the U.S. The PNS Mehran Base is 10 kilometers from Karachi’s Quaid- e-Azam International Airport. It provides all the logistic and administrative support to the aviation unit of the Pakistan navy, according to the navy’s <http://www.paknavy.gov.pk/mehran.htm> website. On Oct. 10, 2009, the Pakistani military freed 39 hostages after soldiers stormed a building in the army’s Rawalpindi headquarters, ending a 22-hour siege by militants. Yesterday’s attack comes less than a month after militants attacked navy buses in Karachi, killing four people and injuring 56. Two days later, four navy personnel and one civilian were killed in a bomb attack on a navy bus in the financial capital. To contact the reporters on this story: Khurrum Anis in Karachi News at <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]; <http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Farhan%20Sharif&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1&partialfields=-wnnis:NOAVSYND&lr=-lang_ja> Farhan Sharif in Karachi, Pakistan at <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Naween Mangi at <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] Hirschberg at <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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