Islamabad, October 10: A team of gunmen brandishing assault rifles and grenades tried to break into Pakistan’s Army headquarters on Saturday, sparking a raging gunbattle with troops outside the capital of Islamabad, police said.
The brazen attack was the third major militant assault 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.
The gunmen drove up to the Army compound in the garrison city of Rawalpindi shortly before noon and tried to force their way inside before being stopped by soldiers, said Mohammed Jamil, a police official.
The attackers jumped out of the vehicle, took up positions throughout the area and began firing at the troops, he said.
One gunman hurled a grenade, and others fired sporadically at those manning the checkpoint at the compound’s entrance, said a senior military official inside. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
He said top Army officials were trapped inside the compound.
The gunbattle was the third major attack in major cities in recent days, following a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a U.N. aid agency on Monday that killed five in Islamabad.
—Agencies