PAKISTAN: Militants carry out deadly attacks on Quetta air bases raising concerns over security as thousands of protesters move on the capital to challenge the Prime Minister's leadership

Record ID: 355014

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Militants carry out deadly attacks on Quetta air bases raising concerns over security as thousands of protesters move on the capital to challenge the Prime Minister's leadership
  • Date: 15th August 2014
  • Summary: QUETTA, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 15, 2014) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (MUTE) POLICE AND PARAMILITARY SOLDIERS PICKING UP BODY (SOLDIER KICKS BODY) PERSONNEL FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES WALKING POLICE AND PARAMILITARY SOLDIERS CARRYING BODY POLICE AND PARAMILITARY PUSHING BODY INTO TRUCK BODY INSIDE VEHICLE
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE0KF3LK6MNVJCIC5VEZ8CFF5C
  • Story Text: Ten Taliban-linked militants were killed and 13 members of the Pakistani security forces were wounded in attacks on two air force bases in the strategic west Pakistani city of Quetta late on Thursday (August 14), officials said.
    While the attackers did not get inside either facility, the raids marked the third time since June that Pakistani airports had been targeted and will raise more questions about how secure such facilities are.
    Police said some of the militants in Thursday night's raids were killed at the Samungli air force base, which shares a runway with the civilian airport in Quetta. The city has long been used as a base by the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.
    Samungli is on the western edge of Quetta and the Khalid air force base, where police said the other attackers were killed, is to the north.
    Residents near the Samungli base said they heard at least eight blasts and gunfire that continued for around half an hour, as well as helicopters flying overhead.
    Earlier, the home minister in the provincial government of Baluchistan, Sarfraz Bugti, confirmed an attack had taken place.

    "So far six terrorists have been killed in the operation. Four police officials, two from the Pakistani army and one from the frontier corps are injured," he said.
    The death toll later rose to ten militants killed, with thirteen Pakistani soldiers wounded.
    Pakistan's military has been fighting an offensive against the Taliban insurgency in the remote, largely lawless region of North Waziristan on the Afghanistan border since June. A wing of the Pakistani Taliban said they had carried out Thursday night's raids in response to that offensive. They warned of more attacks in the coming days.
    The military says hundreds of militants have been killed during the much-anticipated offensive, but residents say some civilians have also died in frequent air raids.
    Access to North Waziristan is tightly controlled and it is impossible to verify the military's casualty figures.
    The attacks come as clashes broke out Friday as tens of thousands of Pakistani protesters from two anti-government movements slowly converged on the capital, presenting the 15-month-old civilian government with its biggest challenge yet.
    The violence and unrest has raised questions over stability at a time when the nuclear-armed nation of 180 million is waging an offensive against Pakistani Taliban militants and the influence of anti-Western and sectarian groups is growing.
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