Brazen assault: Bloodbath at airbase

13 militants killed, 30 security personnel martyred at PAF base in Peshawar

PESHAWAR:

Taliban militants forced their way into an air force base near Peshawar on Friday, killing 30 security personnel, including 16 inside a mosque, in one of the deadliest attacks on a military installation in the country.

At least 13 attackers were also killed by security forces in a counter operation launched within minutes of the predawn attack at the PAF base in Badhaber. Soldiers battled the attackers for several hours and killed all of them.

The military said the heavily armed terrorists were wearing official paramilitary uniforms and had come from Afghanistan. “The attack was planned and controlled in Afghanistan and the attackers were in constant contact with their handlers in Afghanistan,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General (DG) Asim Bajwa told the media during a news briefing later in the day.  Among the dead were 23 air force men, three army personnel, including a captain and two soldiers, and four civilian employees of the base. Another 29 people were injured in the attack on the base, where around 2,500 people were housed at the time of the assault.

Major-General Bajwa, who had also been tweeting about the attack, said the attackers split into two groups after entering the airbase and targeted the administrative and technical areas separately. “They fired RPG-7s, as well as hand grenades and automatic rifles, and entered the base,” he said.

One of the groups, consisting of eight militants, reached a mosque and killed 16 men inside as they were preparing for Fajr prayers.

Another seven worshippers, all of them unarmed, were killed in a barrack nearby while performing ablutions.

None of the attackers was a suicide bomber and they had probably planned to escape after the attack, Bajwa claimed.

The attack started around 4am and the attackers reached there in a vehicle. It ended around 9:30am with the death of all of the attackers. The quick response force and SSG commandos took part in the mop-up operation, which started within 10 minutes of the attack.

The ISPR chief said a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was involved in the attack.

“Let me assure you these attackers have not caused any serious damage and our excellent security system contained them successfully,” claimed Bajwa, terming the attack a reaction to the Zarb-e-Azb operation in North Waziristan.

The scope of the damage could not be ascertained as reporters and even policemen were not allowed within one kilometre of the base, which was immediately cordoned off.

The bodies and victims were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and Lady Reading Hospital.

Within hours of the attack, army chief General Raheel Sharif arrived in Peshawar and held a meeting with Corps Commander Lt General Hidyatur Rehman at the corps headquarters.

The army chief, along with the air force chief, later visited the Badhaber airbase to meet the troops who took part in the clearance operation. They also met the injured victims at CMH.

TTP claims responsibility

A spokesperson for the TTP Khurasani group called The Express Tribune from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan, claiming the banned outfit had sent 14 fidayeen (fighters) to carry out the attack at the Badhaber airbase in retaliation for the Zarb-e-Azb operation and the National Action Plan – a revised anti-terror strategy implemented after the Peshawar school massacre in December last year.

“Zakwan, Qari Siraj, Maulana Abu Hurera, Umar, Ibrahim, Sajid, Abdur Rehman, Abu Bakr, Abbas Qari, Saad, Suleman, Asim, Abdus Salam and Rehmatullah were part of the attacking team,” he added.

The air force has played a key role in the operation launched last year in June against militant hideouts in the tribal areas on the Afghan borders.

Prior threat alert

Official sources said the high-ups of Badhaber base camp were informed about threats of attack and were handed over a copy of the alert on September 8, according to intelligence reports.

The letter stated that 12 to 13 terrorists associated with banned militant outfits were planning a joint attack on important installations and had arrived near Peshawar with some of their accomplices in Bazargai.

The alert warned the militants might already have completed reconnaissance of important installations and extreme vigilance was required. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2015.