 "Jihadis storm Pak navy base; hours later, battle still raging")
A fierce battle is still raging early on Monday between terrorists and troops at Pakistan’s naval aviation base in Karachi, nearly 10 hours after gunmen stormed the heavily-armed military facility and targeted aircraft being used in NATO operations in Afghanistan. ( Watch a raw video from Karachi , soon after the attack.) At least 11 Pakistani servicemen are believed to have been killed, and there are reports that terrorists have taken hostages. The BBC reports that Chinese military personnel are among those held hostage. Washington Post reports : “Some reports said foreigners, possibly Americans, were killed or taken hostage in the attack; a Pakistani navy spokesman said that five Pakistani security personnel were killed and that no foreigners had been on the base.” Wire services, quoting witnesses, said explosions and gunshots could be heard at PNS Mehran, and smoke was rising from the base. More than 10 and perhaps up to 20 terrorists stormed the facility late on Sunday night, using a sewerage line, Pakistan’s Express Tribune reported, quoting “sources on the ground”. “They were equipped with sophisticated weapons,” navy spokesman Commodore Irfanul Haq told Reuters. Financial Times reports that the target of the attacks was a P-3 C Orion aircraft, used for maritime surveillance and one of the navy’s most sophisticated pieces of electronic warfare equipment, which was destroyed. Pakistan’s Express Tribune adds that the US had handed over two P-3 C Orion aircraft to Pakistan Navy in late April 2010. By 2012, Pakistan Navy is expected to take delivery of a total of eight such aircraft. Strategic affairs analyst B Raman posted on Twitter that the “Orion is a maritime surveillance plane presently being used in support of NATO ops in Afghanistan.” The attack, he further said, was “worrisome” from an Indian and American perspective. “Concerns over security of Pak nuclear arsenal will go up.” Twitter resources to follow A round-up of news and feeds, compiled by Twitter users, is available here . And over here , a compilation of images from the Karachi attack (via @SanaSaeed) Also on Twitter, journalist and writer Abdulhadi Hairan ( @Hairan ) posted the following updates this morning “Sources: Attackers may have been using hand grenades to keep forces away from hostage building #Karachi #Pakistan” “Sources on the spot confirm there was one more blast and then gunfiring, #Karachi, #Pakistan” “Dawn News: 200 more personnel join forces for operation (600 were already there) #Karachi #Pakistan With dawn come more blasts and gunfire inside the naval base in #Karachi, #Pakistan “Number of new explosions inside navy base in #Karachi #Pakistanis put to 4, firing starts again.” “New explosions and firing reported inside navy base, #Karachi, #Pakistan” “Dawn news confirms attackers are in control of one 3-storey building with lot of people inside” @ poppyafzalkhan says, without citing any sources:
“terrorists young “fair-skinned” boys, dressed in ‘uniforms’, black headbands, very organised, carrying backpacks, heavy weapons, & grenades”
Islamabad-based aeronautical engineer and founder of Pakistan Youth Alliance Ali Abbas Zaid posted: “Another sleepless Sunday night in #Pakistan. 3 weeks ago Osama operation. Tonight, PNS Mehran. #Pakistan is at war, make no mistake.”
Others on Twitter posting active updates and/or useful links
@OmarWaraich - Pakistani journalist
@alikhurshid - a photographer and architecture student in Karachi
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An earlier report from Reuters Karachi: Gunmen attacked Pakistan’s naval aviation base on Sunday, starting fires, setting off explosions and fighting pitched gunbattles inside one of the country’s most heavily guarded military installations. Officials said at least four people had been killed in the attack on PNS Mehran in the southern city of Karachi. [caption id=“attachment_13652” align=“alignleft” width=“300” caption=“Pakistan Army soldiers arrive at the Mehran naval air base in Karachi, which gunmen stormed late on Sunday night. Athar Hussain/Reuters”]
[/caption] Between 15 to 20 gunmen were inside and had attacked hangars housing aircraft, officials said. “They were equipped with sophisticated weapons,” navy spokesman Commodore Irfan ul-Haq told Reuters. Another spokesman said that one P-3C Orion, a maritime partrol aircraft, had been destroyed. “The attackers are still inside and intermittent firing is continuing. “Interior Minister Rehman Malik said 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.” The Karachi attack evoked memories of an assault on Pakistan’s army headquarters in the town of Rawalpindi in 2009, and revived concerns that even the most well-guarded installations in the country remain vulnerable to militants. Taliban militants, who have vowed to avenge the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces, have carried out several attacks since his death on May 2. Officials said the gunmen had attacked three hangars housing aircraft. Nine explosions were reported from the base, with jet fuel tanks possibly catching fire and exploding. Almost three hours after the start of the attack, gunbattles between presumed militants and commandos continued. A least a dozen ambulances were parked outside the base, waiting to take wounded to hospital. Pakistani military and paramilitary reinforcements were pouring in, with four vehicles carrying about 10 troops each moving into the base. An intelligence official said four people had been killed and five wounded in the Karachi raid. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the “terrorist” attack. “Such a cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism,” Gilani said in statement. Wave of bombings Pakistan has faced a wave of bombings and gun assaults over the last few years, some of them claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban. Others have been blamed on al Qaeda-linked militant groups once nurtured by the Pakistani military which have since slipped out of control. The discovery that bin Laden was living in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, not far from the Pakistan Military Academy, has also revived suspicions that militants may be receiving help from some people within the security establishment. Pakistan and the United States say the senior leadership in the country did not know bin Laden was in Abbottabad. On April 28, suspected militants detonated a roadside bomb in Karachi, killing four members of the navy, the third attack on the navy in a week. The attack came two days after two bombs hit buses carrying navy personnel, killing four people and wounding 56. Taliban insurgents took responsibility for the twin attacks. Reuters