10 Dead in Attack on Pakistani Military HQ

Militants Dressed in Army Uniforms Stage Brazen Assault; Several Security Officers Held Hostage

(CBS/AP)  Last Updated 8:37 p.m. ET

Pakistan's military said commandos are carrying out an operation to free about a dozen soldiers held hostage by militants inside army headquarters.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said most of the hostages have been freed in the operation early Sunday, but operations are still continuing.

Two loud explosions and gunshots were heard from inside the complex close to the capital.

The militants slipped into the complex after they and others attacked it on Saturday, sparking a gunbattle that killed four assailants and six soldiers.

The attack, which left at least 10 people dead, was the third major militant strike in Pakistan in a week and came as the government was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said "four or five" assailants were holding between 10 and 15 troops hostage in a building close to the main gates of the complex in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital, Islamabad. He said the building had no connection to any of the country's intelligence agencies. No senior military or intelligence officials were among those being held, he said.

He said special forces had surrounded the building. "They will decide how and when to act," he said, declining to say whether negotiations were going on more than 11 hours after the attack began.

Late Saturday, sporadic gunfire was heard coming from the complex.

The whereabouts of military chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha were not known. Separate army statements said Kayani attended meetings at the headquarters and at the president's office in nearby Islamabad during the day.

The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms and wielding assault rifles, drove in a white van up to the army compound and opened fire, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas and a witness said.

The heavily-armed attackers then took up positions throughout the area, hurling at least one grenade and firing sporadically at security forces, said a senior military official inside the compound.

"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast," said Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver who was standing outside the gate of the compound. "Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."

Abbas said the guards were likely confused by the attackers' uniforms.

After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Abbas, who told the private Geo news television channel the assault over and the situation "under full control."

But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the compound, and Abbas confirmed that gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi. The city is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.

On Saturday evening, Abbas said the two men remained holed up in a room near the checkpoint and were surrounded.

"We are trying to finish it at earliest, clear the area of terrorists and restore complete control," he told Dunya TV.

Abbas said six troops were killed and five wounded, one critically. Those killed included a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel, according to a military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

As the attack wore on Saturday, Pakistan briefly took two news channels, Geo and Samaa, off the air, but several others continued broadcasting.

Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver, was standing outside the gate of the compound when the white van pulled up, and shooting erupted.

"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast. Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."

The audacious assault was the third major militant attack in Pakistan in a week and came as the government said it was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani media said the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the ongoing assaults strengthened the government's resolve to launch the offensive.

"We have been left no other option except to go ahead to face them," he told Dawn television.

The attack came a day after a brazen Taliban suicide attack in Peshawar, the northern frontier city close to the Afghan border, in which at least 50 people were killed and another 100 people were injured.

The attack on Saturday, however, prompted deep anxiety over Taliban militants becoming emboldened by targeting heavily-protected locations, such as the military's main headquarters, while also demonstrating increased sophistication.

The use of military uniforms by the attackers "suggest they are now planning and organizing themselves much more than in the past," a senior Pakistani government official told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari on condition of anonymity. "This is far from an unruly bunch we are dealing with."

Earlier this week, a Taliban militant dressed as a paramilitary soldier walked inside the Islamabad office of the United Nations World Food Program and blew himself up. These two attacks have raised the prospect of militants dressing up as security personnel to access supposedly well-protected locations.

After the Peshawar attack on Friday night, Pakistani security officials warned they expected more suicide attacks by the Taliban in the coming days.

"More attacks could be a retaliation for a likely full-scale military attack on Waziristan," a security official speaking from Peshawar told CBS News on condition of anonymity.

Western diplomats in Islamabad, responding to Saturday's attack, warned that the incident demonstrated a growing Taliban determination to step up violence across the country, amid reports of the military preparing to attack their key locations in Waziristan.

In the past week, fighter jets of Pakistan's air force have attacked suspected Taliban sites in Waziristan, in a campaign described by defense officials as an effort to soften targets ahead of a ground campaign. Waziristan has for years been a place of refuge for militants tied to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

This summer, Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Taliban movement, was killed in a missile attack thought to have been carried out by unmanned drone operated by the United States. Mehsud's killing has apparently weakened the Taliban's unquestioned unity and may have played a role in the military's decision to attack the region, Western diplomats added.

[robinspp]

May be it is the act of Pakistan government. This is the way they get international attention to extract money from western countries. Now USA will give more money to fight the unknown Taliban which does not exist anywhere. We have to understand, it is the people, and not the Taliban is waging war against the corrupt government. No government will succeed against the will of the people. It is unfortunate we are unnecessarily pumping money to the Pakistan Government. We are not able to provide healthcare for the people, but we are able to spend billions for the unnecessary war.

[sdemaggie]

Can you say inside job. The Pakistanis must be looking for another bribe to pretend to fight the militants (al qida). As long these people are killing each other I don't care.

The Pakistanis have nukes-so what. We have a lot more than they do. If a militant group from that part of the world attacks US or any of our allies we'll blow them off the map. I'm sure ALL of their critical, noncritical, civilian and military are targeted. I wonder how many nukes it woould take to completly destory Afghanistan and Pakistan? It is the most cost effective solution to the issue.

[jefleshman]

sdemaggie

So you would wipe out innocent lives because the media focuses on all the bad that is happening? I assure you the media focus is to make money and that is what sells. I am an American who is in Afghanistan fighting for your Freedoms. As is the 99% of Afghans are fighting for their freedoms along side us. They have not given up. We have not given up. Why should my citizens back home give up?

It would be nice to retract the hateful statement.

Just my thoughts.

[finkfust]

"I am an American who is in Afghanistan fighting for your Freedoms."
Really? Please explain how your presence there make any difference whatsoever to my freedoms.........

"As is the 99% of Afghans are fighting for their freedoms along side us."
That is simply and obviously false. Would you care to admit it?

[finkfust]

sdemaggie - Would you like me to explain exactly why these comments prove you to be a sick moron, or do you actually know it anyway?

[bubbadubba]

Everybody needs to realize all this is a Muslim civil war between the extremists and the moderates spread across the world.
The extremists want to rule all Muslims and form a world army to conquer the world as they have tried several times before in history.
Al Qaida set up training camps in Afghanistan where they were easily detected by the US so Bush would attack Afghanistan then the extremists would tie us down like they did the Soviets while they kill, intimidate, and recruit around the world.
Al Qaida is wearing down our military and killing our budget.
As long as the US occupies muslim countries we are doing exactly what they want us to and they have outsmarted us and are making fools of us.
The worst thing we could do to Al Qaida would be to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and concentrate on hunting down the leaders around the world and arresting or killing them.

[ToolMangler1]

Your point is well taken.
There is only one thing wrong that I see. It will make "NO" difference if the USA pulls out or not. Bin Ladin will pursue his Anti-Western goals because of his hatred for us, The US has been called the "Great Satan" by the Islamic Clerics that bow down to him. He will use that as an excuse for a "neverending 'jihad'" and do his utmost to wage war in the USA.
Do not think for one second that We can leave the Mideast alone if the Shia extremists gain total control...

[stuart-johns2]

Ah... Pakistan and its nukes - that's what this war in Afghanistan is all about.

[zamorin44]

This is a Taliban attack.It is the same Taliban the U.S plans to ignore in the new strategy for Afghanistan.

[zamorin44]

It is not just Pakistan and its nukes.The grand strategy of both the Taliban and the al-Qaeda is to finally seize India and make the whole subcontinent into an Islamic republic.Perversely,China is helping the Islamists in this effort because it wants its rival India destroyed as an independent country.Obama would be making a grave mistake if he ignores this vision of the Taliban in his effeorts to manage the war in Afgghanistan.
The latest news is the Taliban terrorists , who attacked the Pakistani military headquarters,are now holding more than a dozen hostages inside the headquarters.If this is the fate of the country's military headquarters,it is easy to imagine how safe the Pakistani nukes are and also if the Taliban is capable at all of cooperating with the U.S in the Afghan war.

[nextgenman09]

I told people 10 years ago that Afghanistan and Iraq were irrelevant. Pakistan has always been the danger point. Even Iran - whbich always seem to have the Belgianweiser NASCAR nutbags screeching Fear! fear! is of no importance.