The Badaber camp used to be an operational airforce base.
Advertisement
Gen. Bajwa said the militants entered the base, which is 10km (6 miles) south of Peshawar, at two points and then split into groups.
The QRF contained the attackers within a 50-meter zone but unfortunately a mosque and a residential compound fell within that area. Pak Army repulsed the attack killing 13 attackers. They also expressed their resolve to continue the war against terrorism and take it to its logical end.
Independent Pakistani analyst Zahid Hussain said Pakistan and Afghanistan should work together to eliminate militants, who were their common enemy.
Bajwa said that the personnel of Pakistan Air Force instantly, bravely and effectively responded to the attack. They offered “safe passage” to women and children after attacking the base, Khurasani said.
The attack triggered an hours-long firelight with Pakistani troops at Badaber base, during which an officer and two guards were also killed, officials said. The first assault carried out on such an installation was in 2007 when militants launched a suicide attack on the Kamrah Aeronautical Complex, killing at least seven people.
“They killed and injured a lot of the worshippers”.
The technicians were deployed at the guardroom of the camp, when it was attacked.
The Pakistani Taliban, referred to in the nation as Tehrik-i-Taliban, asserted obligation regarding the assault. “Security forces have entered the base and are searching for attackers”, a PAF official told Express Tribune. Rebels also attacked Mehran Airbase in the coastal city Karachi, causing heavy casualties. He said the clearance operation was completed by 9:00am. The law enforcers, and rescue workers shifted the injured to the Combined Military Hospital Peshawar as well as the Lady Reading Hospital where 10 more succumbed to their injuries.The doctors apprehended the death toll may mount as few more injured continued to be in precarious condition.
Though Pakistani security officials say they have arrested or killed thousands of Islamist militants this year, Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah remains at large and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
“Having said that, there have been warnings of a major attack to come…”
The militants shot dead 16 air force men who were offering morning prayers at the mosque inside the compound, military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa told reporters.
The air force has played a key role in the operation against militant hideouts in the tribal areas on the Afghan borders, pounding targets in countless sorties since the onslaught began in June past year .
Advertisement
Earlier, the prime minister condemned the attack in a statement. A search operation for hidden terrorists is underway, Maj Gen Bajwa said.
