Taliban attack Pakistani army headquarters, 10 dead

ISLAMABAD: Taliban gunmen wearing army uniforms attacked Pakistan’s army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Saturday, sparking a gun battle near the

Pakistani soldiers take positions after an attack on the entrance of army headquarters in Rawalpindi. (AFP)

capital that left six soldiers and four assailants dead, officials said.

Hours after the attack on the heavily guarded Pakistan’s military General Headquarter (GHQ), the security forces were searching for two gunmen, who managed to escape during the gun battle but news were pouring in till the filing of this report that the security forces have encircled them outside the GHQ. The dead soldiers include two high rank army officers, brigadier Anwaar and lieutenant colonel Waseem.

The area was quickly cordoned off by security forces and helicopters started hovering over the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Security officials said that some of Pakistan's top military officers were inside headquarters during the firefight. Saturday’s attack shows that Taliban have the strength and ability to even strike at the nerve centre of the armed forces, leave alone the public places.

According to Pakistani news channels, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Soon after the attack, a high level meeting was held at the President house among the three top office bearers of the country, President Asif Ali Zardari, the army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani and PM Gillani. The meeting was also attended by the ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The high level meeting aimed at formulating a strategy to check the recent wave of terrorism in the country as well as to develop consensus over the controversial conditions of the Kerry-Lugar bill, passed by the US congress.

The militants attack on GHQ was the third major attack in Pakistan in less than a week’s time and happened as the government said to launch an imminent ground offensive against Taliban insurgents in the rugged mountains of South Waziristan — the epicenter of militancy in Pakistan. The military has been bombarding the area with artillery and aircraft for months.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the ongoing attacks of militants further strengthened the government's resolve to start the military offensive against Taliban insurgents in South Waziristan.

"We are left with no other option except to go ahead and face them at their dens", Malik said.

The incident came shortly before noon when the assailants disguised as soldiers came in a white van and tried to force their way inside the compound of army headquarters, said Major General Athar Abbas, Pakistan’s military spokesman.

The attackers started indiscriminate firing at the security personnel and had thrown hand grenades from the van, general Abbas told reporters.

He said the attackers uniforms likely confused the guards at the checkpoints.

The heavily armed attackers then took up positions in the area and were firing sporadically at security forces, the military spokesman said.

"After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed. Six troops were also killed and five wounded, one of them critically," said Abbas.

The three attacks over the past week – one on a World Food Programme office in Islamabad, another on a crowded market in northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, and now on military headquarters in Rawalpindi-- could provoke the army to order the military offensive in Waziristan tribal region sooner than later.