View Full Version : Gunmen Assault Pakistan Army Headquarters
Gunmen Assault Pakistan Army Headquarters, at Least 6 Troops Dead
By Shaiq Hussain and Haq Nawaz Khan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, October 10, 2009; 9:16 AM
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Oct. 10 -- Gunmen disguised as soldiers staged a bold attack on Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday morning, sparking a shootout that left at least six soldiers and four militants dead, Pakistani authorities said.
The assault inside this garrison city, a short drive from the capital, Islamabad, was the third militant attack this week. It came one day after a car bombing killed at least 49 people at a market in Peshawar and five days after a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up at the United Nations' World Food Program office in the capital, killing five employees.
The brazen shows of force served as warnings to the military, which has said it is planning an offensive in the volatile tribal region of South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold along the country's porous border with Afghanistan.
Though previous military operations there had failed, the army was emboldened by a successful assault last spring against the Taliban in the Swat Valley and by the killing in August of the Pakistani Taliban chief in a U.S. missile strike.
But security forces were caught off guard at about 11:30 a.m., when a band of fighters dressed in fatigues and carrying assault weapons ambushed an outer checkpoint at the secured headquarters here. An hour-long gun battle ensued, during which militants lobbed grenades before rushing a second, more interior checkpoint and being gunned down, according to army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.
Abbas said the situation was under control but added that soldiers were hunting down two assailants who were hiding inside the premises.
A Taliban-affiliated militant group asserted responsibility for the attack, according to a Pakistani television station. The group listed several demands, including a halt to the planned operation in South Waziristan, the release of Taliban fighters and the closure of Western nongovernmental organizations in Pakistan.
Mansoor Ahmed , a witness, told reporters he was driving by the military compound and saw a white van stop to unload armed men who then began firing at soldiers.
"I saw one of the attackers hurling grenades at the soldiers amidst deafening firing," Ahmed said. He said he also saw an attacker fall to the ground after being shot by soldiers.
After Friday's bombing in Peshawar, Interior Minister Rehman Malik reiterated the government's determination to take on insurgents in South Waziristan, but he did not say when the operation would begin. He had previously warned that the Taliban would be likely to increase its attacks to ward off a military assault..
Well this should assist in motivating our Paki friends!
incarcerated
10-10-2009, 11:25
It's not over. The level of detail is modest, of course, but it is worth remembering that Pakistan keeps a lot of its nukes on military facilities in Rawalpindi.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/10/pakistan.shootings/
Armed militants hold hostages at Pakistani army HQ
updated 17 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least four gunmen were holding 10 to 15 people hostage inside army headquarters in Rawalpindi Saturday after an attack left at least 10 people dead, a top military spokesman said.
Army Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN that the hostages include civilians and military personnel.
He said there have been sporadic shootings between the gunmen and authorities over the past three or four hours.
The gunmen, wearing camouflage clothing and riding in a minivan, earlier opened fire Saturday at the headquarters checkpoint, south of Islamabad, Abbas said.
Ten people were killed in the raging gunbattle including four gunmen and six army guards, he added.
Another military official said the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the incident.
CNN's Reza Sayah said: "I do not recall a standoff that has lasted this long between Pakistan security forces and militants."
He added that the assault was a setback for the authorities, and that the Taliban would laud the attack as a successful attack on the Pakistan security apparatus.
Rawalpindi, the closely guarded home to the general headquarters of the Pakistani army, has experienced suicide bombings and other attacks before.
Saturday's assault was the third major attack in Pakistan this week.
A suicide car bomb carrying 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives killed at least 52 people Friday in the northern city of Peshawar.
It was the deadliest suicide attack ever in Peshawar, said government officials.
A suicide attack at the offices of the U.N. World Food Programme in Islamabad on Monday killed five employees and wounded several others.
Last month, several blasts in northern Pakistan left 17 people dead.
OK, well, is this the hard core ISI provoking elements of the US-allied Paki Army? Rawalpindi is a fully garrisoned Army HQ right next to the police training college where US Embassy private security contractor DYNCORP's Pakistan partner is rumored to have trained and equipped local shadow warriors.
I'm no expert, but when you have state intelligence proxies taking Army personnel hostage near the Federal police academy, you have a serious internal security problem. As noted above by incarcerated, who's watching the nukes?
Islamabad, Oct.10 (ANI): Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has revealed that the guards of Inter-Risk security agency, the Pakistani outlet of a private US security firm, were being trained at the premises of the police training college in Rawalpindi.
“The investigators have informed me that the Inter-Risk security guards were being trained at Sihala police college in Rawalpindi,” The Daily Times quoted Malik, as saying.
Rehman said he has asked the Punjab Government to enquire about the issue and explain its position.
It may be noted that Islamabad Police had recently raided Inter Risk’s an office recovered 61 illegal firearms.
The police detained two persons from the office premises of the company and also registered a case of fraud against the company.
The owner of the company Captain Jaffer Ali Zaidi, a former Pakistan Army official, was also arrested later.
The raid came after reports surfaced that Pakistani authorities have issued 86 licenses for prohibited weapons to a security company that has been hired by the US embassy in Islamabad.
Sources said the highly sophisticated weapons were imported from the US and each of them cost about 800,000 rupees.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/mystery-behind-us-security-firms-guards-training-at-rawalpindi-police-college-remains_100258835.html
incarcerated
10-10-2009, 14:42
Sources said the highly sophisticated weapons were imported from the US and each of them cost about 800,000 rupees.
That would work out to about $17,204.28.
There is already a Wikipedia item about this event
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Pakistan_Army_General_Headquarter_attack
that quotes CBS News about a media blackout:
"Two news channels Geo and Samaa were taken off air for a hour. A message from Pakistan's media regulatory body appeared on those channels announcing it was temporarily suspending transmission of "independent news TV channels" until further notice."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/10/world/main5375972.shtml
ArmyStrong
10-10-2009, 18:37
Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8301175.stm
Pakistani security forces have launched an operation to free hostages being held by militants in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said that the operation had been a success with most hostages freed but he could not give casualty figures.
Insurgents had attacked Pakistan's military HQ on Saturday, taking 10 to 15 security personnel hostage.
Six soldiers and four militants were killed in the initial assault.
The militants' attack came as the Pakistani army prepared for a major operation against the Taliban.
Gen Abbas said the assault was carried out by special forces who had met resistance.
incarcerated
10-10-2009, 20:05
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9B8JBP80
Pakistan army: Commando raid frees 22 hostages
By MOHAMMAD YUSUF (AP) – 24 minutes ago
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Pakistani commandos raided a building inside army headquarters early Sunday and freed 22 people held hostage for more than 18 hours by Islamist militants, a military spokesman said. Three captives and four militants were killed in the operation.
Explosions and gunshots rang out as commandos moved into a building in the complex just before dawn, while a helicopter hovered in the sky. Three ambulances were seen driving out of the heavily fortified base close to the capital, Islamabad.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said "mopping up" operations were still under way, but it appeared the crisis was nearing its end.
Up to five heavily armed militants took the hostages after they and other assailants attacked the main gate of the army headquarters on Saturday, killing six soldiers in a brazen attack on one of the most powerful institutions in this nuclear-armed country.
No group claimed responsibility, but authorities said they were sure that the Pakistani Taliban or an allied Islamist militant group were behind it.
The strike appeared to be a warning to the military that its planned offensive on the insurgents' stronghold of South Waziristan along the Afghan border would be met with attacks against targets across Pakistan. Authorities said the siege had stiffened their resolve to go ahead with that operation.
"Most of the hostages are out of the building now," Abbas said.
Abbas said 20 of the hostages had been kept in a single room guarded by a militant wearing a suicide vest. He said troops shot him before he managed to detonate his explosives.
Abbas said the 22 who were freed included soldiers and civilians. Three captives were killed, along with four militants, he said.
incarcerated
10-11-2009, 18:10
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/world/asia/12pstan.html
Pakistani Police Had Warned Army About a Raid
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: October 11, 2009
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The mastermind of the militant assault on Saturday that shook the heart of the Pakistani military was behind two other major attacks in the last two years, and the police had specifically warned the military in July that such an audacious raid was being planned, police and intelligence officials said Sunday.
....The surviving militant, who was captured early Sunday morning, was identified as Muhammad Aqeel, who officials said was a former soldier and the planner of this attack and others. Mr. Aqeel, who is also known as Dr. Usman because he had once worked with the Army Medical Corps before dropping out about four years ago, is believed to be a member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant group affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban....
The militant leader, Mr. Aqeel, led the commando operation against the Sri Lankan cricket team during its visit to Lahore earlier this year, according to a senior police officer in Punjab involved in the investigation into that assault. He was also behind the suicide bombing that killed the army surgeon general in 2008, military officials said.
In a warning to the authorities in July, the criminal investigation department of the police in Punjab said the militants who attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in March would make a similar kind of assault on military headquarters. The warning, contained in a letter to the leading intelligence agencies, predicted militants would dress in military uniforms and would try to take hostages at the headquarters.
The contents of the letter were published in the Oct. 5 editions of a leading newspaper, The News, and were confirmed Sunday by a senior official of the criminal investigation department.
The letter specifically said that militants belonging to the umbrella group of the Pakistani Taliban would join forces with two other groups, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad, to attack the military headquarters. The Pakistani Taliban took credit for the Saturday attack in a telephone call to the television network Geo....
Well this should assist in motivating our Paki friends!
Even this blazing attack will do nothing for the U.S in PAK or AF. ISI and PAKMIL has to much in with the AQ and other Groups in the FATA.
Let’s see what comes out of the Political ties and what the PAKMIL will REALLY do. Only weeks will show this.
incarcerated
10-14-2009, 23:54
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125557894653686797.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopSto ries
Wave Of Deadly Attacks in Pakistan
OCTOBER 15, 2009, 1:38 A.M. ET
By ZAHID HUSSAIN
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan erupted in a wave of insurgent violence Thursday morning when gunmen attacked three security agency buildings in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least seven and taking hostages, and a suicide bomber killed at least six at a police station in the country's northwest, according to officials.
In Lahore, at least three people were killed when about half a dozen gunmen attacked a building occupied by the Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan's equivalent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is involved in counter-terrorism investigations. Two of the dead were FIA officials.
At least five FIA officials are being held hostage. Pervez Rathore, the city's police chief said the attackers are wearing suicide-bomb vests. The FIA was targeted last year, too, when militants blew up a nine-story building where militants were being detained.
In a separate incident Thursday, gunmen fired at an elite police force training centre on Bedian Road in Lahore. And there was a third attack on another police training centre in the Manawa district outside Lahore.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed the responsibility of Lahore attacks, according to a private TV news channel, GEO News. Rana Sana Ullah, the law minister of the Punjab provincial government, said the Manawa police accademy was cleared of the militants. He said some five gunmen had stormed the accademy. The attackers have escaped.
In the suicide car bombing, police say the attacker rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a police station in the Kohat district in northwest Pakistan, killing six people. Some 20 people were wounded, according to the Associated Press.
Rehman Malik, the Federal interior minister, said Thursday's events represented a concerted attack by the militants. "They are targeting the security forces," he told reporters. He said the FIA building has now been cleared; the fate of the hostages wasn't immediately clear. Police said two militants had been killed....
incarcerated
10-15-2009, 03:12
An update:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5mNFXl22-EBIy5Brk25rjgwHTFw
Militants ambush Pakistan police, 19 killed
By Arif Ali (AFP)
LAHORE, Pakistan — Gunmen stormed police offices in the Pakistani city of Lahore Thursday as a suicide bomber struck a police station in the northwest, killing 19 people and escalating 11 days of militant carnage.
....More than 20 attackers stormed a police commando academy in Bedian, on the outskirts of the city, another police school in the suburb of Manawan that was previously attacked in March and offices of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that was also bombed last year.
Police said five attackers died and that they were investigating reports that women were among the assailants, who were armed with guns and explosives.
"Four terrorists were killed in Manawan. One was hit by security forces and three blew themselves up," said Lahore city police chief Pervez Rathor.
"In Bedian the situation is not clear. There are initial reports that 8 to 10 people climbed up the wall from behind... There are reports that the attackers included three women but it is not yet fully confirmed," he said.
At the FIA building, which was also bombed last year, Rathor said "one terrorist was killed and six security officials".
Police said the attack at the FIA building was quickly repelled and that firing had stopped at Manawan, where police reinforcements were inside.
....In the northwest town of Kohat near Peshawar, district police chief Dilawar Bangash said eight people were killed.
"The bomber ploughed his car into the outer wall of the police station" in Kohat, he told AFP, adding that the building was badly damaged....