Kamra aeronautical complex, linked with nuke weapons, was also attacked in December 2007.
In yet another terror attack on Pakistani military installations, a suicide bomber killed eight people at a security check post near a premier aeronautical complex about 50 km from Islamabad on Friday morning. The highly secured complex in the cantonment of Kamra, Attock, is the country’s main air force maintenance and research hub and is also linked with the country’s nuclear weapons programme. At least 24 people were injured in the attack — the ninth on major government installations this month.
The bomber was riding a bicycle and triggered the blast when he was stopped by security persons at the check post, said Fakhar Sultan, district police officer, Attock. Two security guards were among the dead.
The complex, where combat jets equipped to carry nuclear warheads are based (the army denies this), was earlier targeted in December 2007 when a suicide car bomber struck near a bus carrying air force employees’ children, wounding five. According to US intelligence think-tank Stratfor, Friday’s suicide bombing is likely to raise renewed concerns about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
No group has claimed responsibility, though the finger of suspicion points at the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has carried out a wave of daring attacks on security installations inside the country over the past two weeks in response to the ongoing military offensive in South Waziristan.
The TTP’s most audacious attack was on the army’s general headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on October 10. Forty-two people, including the director-general of military intelligence, were taken hostage to press for the release of over 100 jehadis under detention. The episode lasted 18 hours, ending in bloodshed on October 11 during a commando operation, which left eight terrorists and 12 army personnel, including a brigadier who was in charge of the GHQ’s security, dead.
Among the TTP’s other targets have been the army’s Heavy Mechanical Complex in Taxila as well as the ISI offices in Rawalpindi and Lahore.
(With agency inputs)
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