Gunmen attack Pakistan army HQ; troops kill all 4

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Four gunmen wearing military uniforms and wielding assault rifles and grenades tried to break into Pakistan’s army headquarters Saturday, sparking a ferocious 45-minute gunbattle outside the capital that ended when all the assailants were killed, authorities said.

The audacious assault, which killed and injured several troops, 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.

It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan’s security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August.

The gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms, drove in a white van up to the army compound in the garrison city of Rawalpindi shortly before noon Saturday and tried to force their way inside, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.

The assailants shot at the guards at one checkpoint, killing some of them, and then jumped out of the van and ran toward a second checkpoint, he said. Abbas said the guards were likely confused by the attackers’ uniforms.

The heavily armed attackers then took up positions throughout the area and began firing at the troops in a gunbattle that lasted 45 minutes, security officials said.

One gunman hurled a grenade, and others fired sporadically from their hiding places at those manning the checkpoint at the compound’s entrance, said a senior military official inside. The official, who said top army officials were trapped in the compound during the assault, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Police and troops backed by helicopter gunships cordoned off the area in Rawalpindi, which is adjacent to the capital of Islamabad. The garrison city is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks

“I heard gunshots. First they came rapidly, and later they were intermittent,” said Ashfaq Husain, a traffic officer in the area.

All four assailants were killed, Abbas said. “The situation is now under full control,” he said.

Abbas said several soldiers were killed and injured in the attack, but the full scope of casualties was not immediately clear.

“Our forces are present there, and they are assessing how much loss we have suffered, and how many deaths have occurred,” he told the private Geo news television channel.

The gunbattle was the latest in a string of attacks on Pakistani cities, following a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a U.N. aid agency Monday that killed five in Islamabad. The man who attacked the U.N. was also wearing a security forces’ uniform and was granted entry to the compound after asking to use the bathroom.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which appeared to be a message to the army that the militants intend to ramp up their strikes across the country in response to the government’s planned offensive against Taliban strongholds in the border region of South Waziristan.

Pakistan vowed Friday to launch the new offensive in the wake of the massive Peshawar bombing.

The United States has been pushing Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents using its soil as a base for attacks in Afghanistan. The assault could be risky for the army, which was beaten back on three previous offensives into the Taliban heartland.

But the army may have been emboldened by its successes against the militants in the Swat Valley and by the killing of Baitullah Mehsud.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the militants had left the government “no other option” but to hit back. “We will have to proceed,” he told a local television station Friday. “All roads are leading to South Waziristan.”

Islamic militants have been carrying out nearly weekly attacks in Pakistan, but the sheer scale of Friday’s bombing — which killed nine children — pushed the government to declare it would take the fight to the lawless tribal belt along the border where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding.

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed to this report from Islambad.