Military Base Secure After Taliban Attack

The Pakistani Taliban has said it was behind an attack on a Karachi military base that has claimed at least 10 lives and destroyed aircraft.

Up to 20 militants stormed the Mehran naval air base in the southern city, starting fires and setting off explosions.

It triggered gun battles with more than 100 commandos inside one of the country's most heavily guarded military installations.

After 16 hours of fierce fighting Pakistani forces regained control of the base killing all the attackers, a security official said.

A navy spokesman added that 10 military personnel were killed and 20 wounded in the assault.

Around 15 to 20 attackers were said to have got inside the facility, and they had also attacked three hangars housing aircraft.

At least one US supplied surveillance planes had been destroyed, it was reported.

Dozens of ambulances queued outside to treat the wounded, while fire crews doused towering flames over the base.

As the battle unfolded, Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location: "We claim responsibility for this attack in Karachi."

"We had already warned after Osama's (bin Laden) martyrdom that we will carry out even bigger attacks," he added.

Bin Laden was killed by US commandos in a town north of Islamabad on May 2.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the militants had attacked from the rear of the base.

"We have been able to confine them to one building and an operation is under way either to kill or capture them."

Journalist Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, in Karachi, told Sky News: "From where I was I could hear a lot of firing and then several explosions.

"The Pakistani air force has a base on a main thoroughfare in the city and that has been attacked.

"Inside that air base there is a naval base and that has also been attacked."

It is believed the terrorists entered the base through a Pakistan air force museum next to the base, which has lower security.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack.

In a statement, he said: "Such a cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism."

:: Reports that Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been killed have been denied. A spokesman for the militant group said: "He is safe and sound."