US media’s insinuation over Kamra assault

KARACHI: Suspected militants attacked a major Pakistani Air Force base where some of the country’s nuclear weapons are thought to be stored in the early hours of Thursday, setting off an exchange of fire that lasted several hours, a report published in New York Times said.

Security forces battled attackers until dawn at the Minhas air force base, west of the capital, Islamabad, according to reports on Pakistani television. At least one militant was killed and several others were wounded.

The base, in the Attock district of Punjab, is believed to be one of the locations where part of Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile, estimated to include at least 100 warheads, is stored, the report claimed.

The assault came amid mounting speculation that Pakistan’s military was preparing to carry out an operation in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, in the tribal belt — a longstanding demand of the United States.

Early reports suggested that the attackers, some wearing suicide jackets, were targeting JF-17 fighter jets at the base that could be used in such an operation.

It was not clear how many warplanes were stationed at the base, or whether any were damaged in the assault, report said.

Militants have attacked the base twice already — in 2007, when a suicide bomber hit a bus near the entrance, and in 2008, when militants fired several rockets into the base.

The latest assault resembled a May 2011 assault on a military base in Karachi in which at least two American-built surveillance aircraft were destroyed. It was not entirely unexpected, said the report.

Some analysts here said that U.S. media is in the habit of giving twist and turn to any such terrorists' activities in Pakistan that in future might be used as a pretext of direct intervention, while some others wondered 'is U.S our friend or foe'?