IS**BAD (Reuters) Pakistan's military was ridiculed and accused of complicity in the media on Tuesday after a small group of militants laid beset to a naval air base, holding out for 16 hours opposition hundreds of commandos and rangers.
As few as six militants infiltrated the PNS Mehran naval base in Karachi, the headquarters of Pakistan's naval air wing, on Sunday night, killing 10 security forces and wounding 20.
"Our mujahideen who conducted this operation were equipped with faith as well as usual sophisticated weapons and that's why they fought with hundreds of security forces and inflicted ponderous losses on them," Pakistan Taliban speaker Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters from an undisclosed location.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Monday three militants were killed in the gunbattle while the body of a fourth was deemed to be buried under the rubble of a collapsed wall. Two suspects were trusted to have fled the scene, he added.
Pakistan's military has been on the behind foot since U.S. special forces slew al Qaeda governor Osama binary Laden on May 2, incapable to unravel either why they had been incapable apt catch the world's most ambitioned man themselves alternatively why the Americans could launch a raid deep into their territory undetected.
Two P-3C Orion helicopter from the United States -- crucial assets for Pakistan's anti-submarine and marine surveillance capacity -- were demolished in Monday's raid, and the Pakistan military's reputation as a defender of the nation and of Islam was left in tatters.
Reaction to the raid from the generally pro-military Pakistani media was coarse.
"Political rhetoric and a Cabinet Defence Committee conference are not working to solve this one," peruse an editorial in the English-language daily, The News. "This namely an epic failure exposing an existential menace that will need epic leadership to countervail."
An commentary in the Urdu-language Jang, an of nuclear-armed Pakistan's biggest and most pro-military weeklies, said the attacks illuminated "a disability of security fathom."
"In very polite words, it can be cried worrisome negligence."
Others went further incompetence and recommended that the attackers had help from among the military.
"Did the Taliban raiders have message inside the military base?" wrote Dawn, distinct English-language everyday. "Such a possibility cannot be ruled out, for the involvement of serving workers in several previous attacks has been well-established."
In October 2009, a similarly small raiding gathering attacked the Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, catching 42 folk hostage, including several commanders. By the end of the day-long ordeal, nine gunmen, 11 soldiers and 3 hostages were die.
Later investigations found several low-ranking soldiers and officers were involved in helping the attackers.
Ehsan declined to confirm whether the militants had help in the military.
"Our 'local friends' from Karachi helped us in yesterday's action merely I would not mention whether we had friends on the base or no,pants outlet," Ehsan said.
Amir Rana, adviser of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies and author of a writing on jihadi groups in Pakistan,tank tops online, doubts the Taliban was directly involved, but more likely worked via other, Punjab-based groups affiliated with al Qaeda.
"There are militant groups which have training and capabilities because these variety of attacks and they likewise are in direct contact with al Qaeda," he said.
He thought groups attached to Ilyas Kashmiri, who reportedly mandates the "313 Brigade," al Qaeda's operational arm, more possible staged the raid, given its sophistication.
He identified three groups active in Karachi -- Jundullah, Arshad Wahid group and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen-Al-Alami, which he said could also have been be involved.
The military launched operations against the Pakistan Taliban in South Waziristan in 2009, spreading the leadership and racking up some victories.
Last year was relatively quiet, but the Pakistan Taliban appears to have built up its connections, giving militants a current strike capacity in Pakistan's economic center.
The necrosis of bin Laden was the spark, and the Pakistan Taliban have been on a coil even now, likely to sow confusion and attack Pakistan's military and ******.
"Now Pakistani governors, President (Asif Ali) Zardari and the army ambition be our first targets. USA ambition be our second target," Ehsan told Reuters by tel from one undisclosed position on May 2, hours later bin Laden was killed.
The Mehran navy bottom raid shows the militants ** good above namely promise.
(Additional reporting at Saud Mehsud, Augustine Anthony, Sahar Ahmed, Zeeshain Haider and Kamran Haider; Editing by Nick Macfie) |
