Washington: The United States Tuesday condemned a deadly attack by Taliban gunmen on a naval base in Karachi, saying it showed the need for US-Pakistani cooperation despite differences between both sides.
"We strongly condemn this terrorist attack and we're
committed to working with Pakistan... in a joint effort to
combat this kind of violent extremism," State Department
spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
He said no Americans personnel were killed or injured
in the attack.
Pakistani officials said 11 Chinese and six American
maintenance contractors were evacuated safely during the
attack.
Pakistan today regained control of the naval base, 17
hours after heavily armed Taliban gunmen attacked, destroying
two US-made surveillance planes and killing 10 personnel.
It was the worst assault on a military base since the
army headquarters was besieged in October 2009, piling further
embarrassment on Pakistan's armed forces three weeks after
Osama bin Laden was found living under their noses.
Toner said the attack underscored the need for
counterterrorism cooperation between Washington and Islamabad.
"It just illustrates that Pakistan is under enormous
pressure and threat from these kinds of groups. And they
suffer... considerably from this kind of violent extremism,"
Toner said.
"So it just, frankly, speaks to the ongoing need for
close counterterrorism cooperation, even or in spite of some
of the questions raised by the bin Laden raid," he added.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 12:36