Gunmen armed with automatic weapons, grenades and wearing suicide vests have attacked two military airbases in southwestern Pakistan, with security forces killing seven militants in the ongoing fighting, officials say.
Sarfaraz Bugti, the home minister of insurgency-hit Baluchistan province said militants had tried to storm the Samungli airbase, used by Pakistan's Air Force, and Khalid military airbase, both in the provincial capital Quetta, early on Friday but had failed to penetrate either perimeter.
"Exchange of fire is going on near both the airbases. Seven terrorists have so far been killed," Bugti told AFP.
"The target of the attacks were both the airbases but police and security forces thwarted the attacks," he added. The airbases are about 12 kilometres apart in Quetta.
Mohammad Amlish, provincial police chief told AFP seven security personnel including four police, and three soldiers had been wounded in the gunbattle but that police had managed to stop the militants from entering the Samungli airbase through a drain.
"We have recovered three dead bodies. Two of them detonated their suicide vests after being encircled by police while one was shot dead," Amlish said.
A senior military official said rockets were fired at Samungli airbase, with two landing inside the perimeter fence. He said no damage was caused.
Quetta city's police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema said militants first launched an attack on Samungli airbase before targeting Khalid military airbase around an hour later. Police had defused four bombs near the outer wall of Khalid airbase, he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks but the Taliban have threatened a bloody response to a recent Pakistan military offensive against militants in the North Waziristan tribal region.
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