NEW DELHI: Pakistani commandos on Monday regained control of a key military airbase here that was stormed by Taliban terrorists after 16 hours of gun battles that killed 10 security personnel and destroyed two US-made surveillance planes.
Four militants were also killed. They were a part of a group of heavily armed terrorists who made the brazen attack on PNS Mehran, the naval air station within Faisal airbase, at 10.40 pm on Sunday night.
Within minutes of entering the base, the attackers lobbed grenades and fired rockets that destroyed two P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the attack was carried out by about six terrorists, four of whom had died, while two got away.
At least one of the dead terrorists was a suicide bomber who blew himself up, Malik said. Malik said 17 foreigners who were on the airbase — including 11 Chinese and six Americans — were moved to safety.
Security was tightened in Pakistan, particularly at military installations, following the attack. The incident has highlighted Pakistan’s designs that it nurtured for years that have finally started to haunt its own security and sovereignty.
The attack has effectively crippled its long-range maritime reconnaissance and attack facility. That the terrorists were able to identify and destroy P-3C Orion suggests a possible sabotage from within as these planes can also be used in over-ground reconnaissance and surveillance.
Pakistan’s navy uses the turbo-propelled P-3C Orion aircraft for maritime patrolling and reconnaissance in the Indian Ocean as a bulwark against the Indian Navy.
Pakistan had placed an order of eight P-3C Orion (updated version) aircraft from the US, of which it had received only two so far.
Destruction of the two Orion aircraft has hit Pakistan’s surveillance capability by at least by 40 per cent thus putting it in great disadvantage until it gets the rest of the aircraft in 2012-13, government sources said. The P-3C Orion equipped with harpoon missiles and bombs can fly non-stop up to 2500 nautical miles, a range that would allow it to reconnoitre from Karachi to Kochi and back without refuelling.
Taking preventive measures, the Indian Navy also increased its alert level at its naval bases — INS Hansa in Goa, INS Dega in Vizag and INS Rajali in Chennai.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the naval base attack.
“We claim responsibility for this attack in Karachi,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
(With Inputs from PTI in Karachi)