PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – The Pakistani Taliban launched a brazen attack on a military base on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar early on Friday, triggering a firefight that left at least 20 wounded, including 10 soldiers. Eight of the attackers were killed in the shootout, officials said.
The assault on the Badaber base came as the army has been carrying out a major offensive against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan, a northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The military had stepped up operations against the Taliban and other militants in the area following the Pakistani Taliban attacked a school in Peshawar last December that killed 150 people, mostly children.
In Friday’s assault, the attackers stormed the guard room of the base, located on the edge of the city of Peshawar. The base, established in 1960s as an air force facility, has not been operational for years and was mostly used as a residential place for air force employees and officers from Peshawar, according to air force officials.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said up to 10 attackers were involved in the attack, which he described as being quickly repulsed.
In Tweets on social media, Bajwa said the country’s powerful army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, rushed to Peshawar to meet with the security forces taking part in the clearing operation. He said Sharif will visit a military hospital where doctors were treating soldiers wounded in the attack.