- Title: PAKISTAN: Family mourns Taliban attack victim
- Date: 24th May 2011
- Summary: LAHORE, PAKISTAN (MAY 23, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICIALS/ MOURNERS STANDING OUTSIDE ANCESTRAL HOME OF LIEUTENANT YASIR ABBAS WHO WAS KILLED IN THE ASSAULT ON PAKISTANI NAVAL BASE FLAG WITH SHI'ITE EMBLEM FLYING OVER ABBAS' HOUSE MAN COMING OUT OF HOUSE NAME OF ABBAS' FATHER ON GATE OF HOUSE VARIOUS OF MOURNERS SITTING IN PORCH OF HOUSE PHOTOGRAPH OF LIEU
- Embargoed: 8th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Pakistan, Pakistan
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: War / Fighting
- Reuters ID: LVA3LGULCNI2JHFTL0SDQ08PZ8PB
- Story Text: As troops recaptured a Pakistani naval air force base in Karachi on Monday (May 23) after a 16-hour battle with Taliban gunmen, grief-stricken friends and family members of Lieutenant Yasir Abbas were gathering in his ancestral house in Lahore.
Abbas was among at least 10 military personnel who were killed in the attack to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden, that started at 10.30 p.m. (1730gmt) on Sunday (May 22). Twenty others were wounded.
According to navy officials, Abbas was leading a Rapid Response Squad at the base at the time of the attack and was among the first to face the intruders.
"Martyrdom only comes to a few selected people, and Yasir has attained martyrdom in front of the whole nation. He was a very brave officer. He was the Duty Officer at that time and he has carried out his duty in an excellent manner, and has attained martyrdom ," Yasir Abbas's brother-in-law, Samar Abbas, told Reuters Television as the family waited for the body to be brought home from Karachi.
Abbas' father, himself an army officer, had gone to Karachi to bring back his only son's body.
"We were with him on a conference call last night, at around 10 pm (PST), talking to him, when there was a big explosion. We heard it. He put us on hold, and said; 'There has been an explosion; I am going to have a look.' He ran towards the gate, then called out that the situation looked very bad and he would call later.The information we got later was that Yasir was the Duty Officer at that time. The security people tried to stop him from going forward, because firing was going on and hand grenades were being lobbed. But since he was the Duty Officer, and had to control everything, he tried to stop the terrorists. He was hit thrice in the chest ," Samar Abbas said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said just six militants were believed to have been involved in the attack on the PNS Mehran base in Karachi late on Sunday.
Malik said three militants were killed in the gun battle while the body of a fourth was believed to be buried under the rubble of a collapsed wall. Two suspects were believed to have fled the scene, he added.
Malik said 17 foreigners -- including 11 Chinese and six Americans -- were inside the base at the time. All had been evacuated safely.
One P-3C Orion, a maritime patrol aircraft supplied by the United States, had been destroyed and another aircraft had been damaged.
The Pakistani Taliban, who are allied with al Qaeda, said they had staged the attack to avenge Bin Laden's death. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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