At least three personnel of Anti Terrorism Force (ATF) were injured after militants armed with rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons launched a simultaneous attack on Pakistan Airforce’s Samugli airbase and Quetta Airport near the outskirts of the city late on on the night of 14th August. The day the nation celebrates its independence.
Airport police SHO Athar Rasheed said between five to six militants were hiding in a storm drain around half a kilometer from the airport in Killi Khezi area from where they had fired around 10 rockets.
“Security forces from airbase opened fire after they spotted the armed men and their suspicious movement around half kilometer from the base.,” Rasheed said. He added that rockets fired by the militants exploded near Samugli airbase.
In retaliation, the Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) and Frontier Corps (FC) was mobilised, which tried to cordon off the attackers. During this process, the security forces were fired upon, injuring three ATF personnel. The injured personnel were shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH).
There was no confirmation of deaths or injury to attackers though officials claimed that two attackers had been killed. A heavy exchange of fire is still underway. However. it is all but certain that the highly alert security forces foiled a potentially catastrophic attack that would have cast a pall on the nation’s 68th birthday.
So far all national assets including airplanes both civilian and military are safe from the threat.
