Kamra airbase attack: PAF official succumbs to injuries

A Pakistan Air Force official wounded during a Taliban attack on the Kamra airbase succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

Islamabad: A Pakistan Air Force official wounded during a Taliban attack on the Kamra airbase succumbed to his injuries on Friday, taking to two the number of security personnel killed in the incident, which also left nine terrorists dead.

PAF official Muhammad Iqbal died at a military hospital at the Kamra complex in Punjab province, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Iqbal was injured when a group of heavily armed terrorists stormed the airbase yesterday.

A soldier named Asif Ramzan was killed in the intense gun battle with the attackers yesterday.

The terrorists, wearing military uniforms and suicide vests, sneaked into the airbase at 2 am, triggering a gun battle that lasted about three hours.

Eight terrorists were killed within the airbase while another blew himself up outside the perimeter, a PAF spokesman said.

The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killing of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, the commander of Kamra airbase, was injured while leading the operation against the attacker.

He has been discharged from hospital, the PAF spokesman said.

A Saab-2000 surveillance aircraft was damaged when the terrorists fired a rocket propelled grenade at a hangar during the attack, officials said today.

PAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, has formed a five-member committee headed by Air Marshal Syed Athar Hussain Bukhari to probe the terror attack on the airbase.

The other members of the committee are experts in various fields, the PAF spokesman said.

PTI

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