Pakistani commandos ended a Taliban siege of a navy base in the country’s largest city after a 16- hour battle that the militants said was in part to avenge the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Ten members of Pakistan’s security forces were killed along with four guerrillas, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Karachi. The “terrorists were 20-22 years of age and wore Western clothes with suicide jackets beneath them,” Malik said. They were armed with rocket launchers and grenades, he said.
Pakistani Taliban had pledged to attack government and military installations after U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda leader bin Laden in a raid in Abbottabad, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Islamabad, on May 2. The American raid exacerbated tensions between the two countries, as the U.S. questioned whether Pakistani officials had protected bin Laden and Pakistan protested the violation of its territory.
The insurgents in Karachi damaged surveillance aircraft provided by the U.S. in the biggest strike against a leading Pakistani military installation since a raid on the army’s Rawalpindi headquarters in October 2009.
Navy spokesman Irfan ul-Haq said 12 commandos and soldiers were killed and another 14 were injured. Ul-Haq would not say how many militants were killed or captured.
The Pakistani Taliban, the country's homegrown insurgency and an Al Qaeda-allied militant group, claimed responsibility. It said the raid was meant to avenge the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. commandos May 2 in the military city of Abbottabad.
The raid marked the most devastating attack on a Pakistani military installation since October 2009, when a team of militants stormed the army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and took hostages, beginning a 22-hour standoff that ended in the deaths of 23 people, including nine militants.
That attack raised serious questions within Pakistani society about the military's capability to defend not just civilians, but also itself from Islamist militant violence, and those doubts would likely be renewed by the assault in Karachi. Even before Sunday, the public's confidence in the military had been shaken by the raid on the Bin Laden and the ease with which U.S. military helicopters were able to slip deep into Pakistani territory undetected.
Moreover, the attack in Karachi would probably raise fears among leaders in Washington and Europe about Pakistan's ability to secure its nuclear arsenal, which is estimated to consist of about 100 nuclear weapons.
a local resident near the Mehran Naval Base, expressed his frustration with the security forces.
"You can see how much security there is around this place," he says. "No ordinary person can get inside. How did these people get in? It means our security is incompetent," he says. "This is obviously a security failure."
Critics also point to the fact that there have been a number of very public threats made in statements by extremist groups inside Pakistan.
The fact that the gunmen were able to coordinate and infiltrate the base from three directions also has many in the Pakistani media questioning if there was some inside help - furthering concerns that the military has been infiltrated with those who are sympathetic to the extremist cause.
There is also growing concern that Pakistan’s security forces are unable to adequately protect and defend the country’s assets: including the nation’s nuclear assets.
Security Analyst Ikram Sehgal says the government and the military should have known the situation following the Bin Laden raid would be dangerous and thus put all security forces on high alert.
"We need all our security forces to be in a state of the highest alert," said Sehgal. "And I am sorry to say, somebody must be held accountable and some action must be taken."
The Pakistan government has launched four inquiries into the May 2 raid that killed bin Laden and sparked the current crisis.
Authorities say there will also be a full investigation into this most recent attack.
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