* Pakistan says no nuclear arms at base
* Taliban claims responsibility for assault
* Assault cast doubts on assertions militants been weakened
(Adds U.S. comment, paragraphs 15-17)
By Qasim Nauman
KAMRA, Pakistan Aug 16 (Reuters) – Islamist militants armed
with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons fought
their way into one of Pakistan’s largest air bases on Thursday,
the air force said, in a brazen challenge to the nuclear-armed
country’s powerful military.
The attack was repelled and only one aircraft was damaged,
said an air force spokesman, adding that the Minhas air base at
Kamra, in central Punjab province, did not house nuclear
weapons.
“No air base is a nuclear air base in Pakistan,” he said.
The gun battle raged for hours, and eight militants and one
soldier were killed, the spokesman said. Commandos were called
in to reinforce base security forces and police armoured
personnel carriers could be seen heading into the base.
Pakistan’s Taliban movement, which is close to al Qaeda and
seen as the biggest security threat to the South Asian nation,
claimed responsibility for the assault.
“We are proud of this operation. Our leadership had decided
to attack Kamra base a long time ago,” Taliban spokesman
Ehsanullah Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The militants moved through a nearby village under cover of
darkness and climbed a nine-foot (2.7-metre) wall strung with
barbed wire to break into the base, the air force spokesman
said. Some were wearing military uniforms.
The assault cast doubts over official assertions that
military operations had severely weakened militants waging a
violent campaign to topple the U.S.-backed government and impose
strict Islamic rule.
Security forces opened fire when militants strapped with
suicide bombing vests approached aircraft hangars, prompting
other militants to fire rocket-propelled grenades from outside
the base’s walls, said the air force spokesman.
Base commander Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, who led the
operation against the attackers, was shot in the shoulder but is
in stable condition, said spokesman Captain Tariq Mahmood.
Search operations for any other militants who may have been
hiding in the complex after the attack had ended, he said.
About an hour later, a series of small explosions could be
heard as homemade bombs planted on the base by the militants
were detonated by the military.
Minhas, 45 miles (75 km) northwest of Islamabad, is adjacent
to the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, a major air force research
and development centre. Pakistan manufactures JF-17 fighter
planes, jointly developed with China, at the site.
Suicide bombers launched attacks near the base and the
aeronautical complex in 2007 and 2009, but news reports said
defenses were not breached.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria
Nuland said there had been an improvement recently in
cooperation with Pakistan in trying to squeeze militant networks
in the region.
“And, you know, it’s not — it’s not unusual that when they
(the militants) feel squeezed, they lash out. But that just
speaks to the necessity of continuing our efforts to end their
ability to exact violence on Pakistani citizens, or any of us,”
she said.
She said she had no information that would contradict
Pakistani statements that there were no nuclear weapons at the
site.
HOLY MONTH
It was not immediately clear how the attackers managed to
enter the sprawling base. Although the attack took place at
about 2 a.m. (2100 GMT Wednesday), it is likely many of the
soldiers on the base were awake for prayers or breakfast during
the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Faheemullah Khan, a civilian who lives near the base, said
he was at a mosque praying when he heard gunfire and explosions
that he thought were military exercises.
“Then we came to a restaurant, which is next to the main
entrance to the base, and heard a louder explosion,” he said.
“We saw six police vans rush in, and realized something was
wrong.”
Several squadrons of fighters and surveillance planes are
believed to be based at Minhas.
“One body of a suicide bomber strapped with explosives has
been found close to the impact area,” said an air force
statement.
Pakistan’s Taliban has staged a number of high-profile
attacks over the past few years, including one on army
headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2009.
Last year, six Taliban gunmen attacked a naval base in
Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, to avenge the killing of Osama
bin Laden. At least 10 military personnel were killed and 20
wounded in the 16-hour assault.
Those attacks, and the latest one, are embarrassing for
Pakistan’s military, which has ruled the country for more than
half of its 65-year history and is seen as the most efficient
state institution.
The Taliban is blamed for many of the suicide bombings
across Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally.
Pakistan’s military, one of the biggest in the world, has
staged several offensives against Taliban strongholds in the
unruly tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan.
But the operations have failed to break the back of the
Taliban. Major suicide bombings have eased considerably over the
past year but that could be due to a tactical shift and not
pressure from the military.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in WASHINGTON, Sheree
Sardar in ISLAMABAD and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by
Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Philip
Barbara)
