PAKISTAN: Three people killed as commandos rescue twenty five hostages

Record ID: 588888

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Three people killed as commandos rescue twenty five hostages
  • Date: 12th October 2009
  • Summary: RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 11, 2009) (REUTERS) SECURITY AT MAIN GATE OF ARMY GENERAL HEADQUARTERS SIGNBOARD OF GENERAL HEADQUARTERS SOLDIERS GETTING INTO A VEHICLE VEHICLE DRIVING OFF HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD SOLDIERS ON GUARD HELICOPTER HOVERING OVER ARMY GENERAL HEADQUARTERS
  • Embargoed: 27th October 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FTW20LAG0P88D2R5X1XWZ6JW
  • Story Text: Pakistani commandos stormed a building near army headquarters on Sunday (October 11) and freed 25 hostages being held there by suspected Taliban militants, a military spokesman said.
    Three hostages and four of the gunmen were killed, said military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, by telephone.
    Saturday's (October 10) brazen attack on the tightly guarded headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi came as the military prepared a major offensive against the militants in their northwestern stronghold of South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
    The strike at the heart of the powerful military is likely to revive fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability at a time when the United States needs its help in the campaign against an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan.
    A blast and gunfire erupted before dawn as soldiers assaulted the security office building near the army headquarters where the gunmen and their hostages were holed up.
    Soldiers were searching for other gunmen, he said, adding there were believed to have been more than five of them in the building.
    On Saturday, gunmen wearing army uniforms attacked the headquarters killing six soldiers in a gun battle at a main gate.
    Four gunmen were killed there and two of their wounded colleagues captured, security officials said. But other gunmen fled and took hostages in the office building.
    Pakistani Taliban militants linked to al Qaeda have launched numerous attacks in Pakistan over the past couple of years, most aimed at the government and security forces, including bomb attacks in Rawalpindi.
    On Monday (October 05), a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad, and on Friday (October 09) a suspected suicide bomber killed 49 people in Peshawar.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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