GHQ Check-Post Attackers Killed - Hostages Rescued!

[air marshal]

39 hostages freed, 3 martyred, 4 terrorists killed, leader arrested

ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Three hostages embraced martyrdom while 39 were safely freed out of total 42 hostages in search and clearance operation launched in two phases, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) source told APP here Sunday. During operation which spanned over 40 minutes to rescue 42 officials of the GHQ security, four terrorists were killed while their leader Aqeel alias Dr Usman was arrested in injured condition by the daring commandos of Pakistan Army.


The first phase of the operation launched at around 6: am, got freed 27 hostages from the clutches of terrorists while three other hostages were killed due to firing by the terrorists.

However, the terrorists’ leader Aqeel alias Dr. Usman who somehow managed to escape during the first phase of operation leading to launch of the second phase of operation mainly to take out the terrorist.
He said in the second phase terrorist Aqeel was successfully overpowered within few minutes and remaining 12 hostages were also safely rescued.

Held up terrorist commander, Aqeel alias Dr. Usman is allegedly the mastermind of terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricket team.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) source said that four terrorists were killed on Sunday morning. They were wearing suicide jackets and remained unable to inflict any loss as the commandos first hit them successfully and then freed the hostages from their clutches.

The hostages had been shifted to safer places and were in good condition, he added.

He said that the Operation Clearance, which started at 6:00 a.m took only forty minutes for its completion.
He said the combing and search of security office of General Headquarters,where the militants made hostage to the security personnel was completed.

He said that there had been no senior officer among the hostages and the majority of hostages comprised civilian servants.

Earlier, on Saturday six Army personnel embraced shahadat while five others were injured when the terrorists were challenged by the security staff at the checkpost on the Mall Road near GHQ.
The Shaheed servicemen, who expired on the spot, included Brig. Anwar and Lt. Col. Waseem Ahmed both stated to be on their way at that time.

The episode unfolded at about 11.30 am on Saturday when 9 culprits, riding a suzuki van, started firing at the personnel deputed at the barriers, also hurled hand grenades.

The injured were rushed to hospital as the security officials tried to secure the safe release of security men who had been taken hostage after those assailants who survived the counter firing by the security guards.
They entered this building while making a run towards checkpost No.2 of GHQ after initially facing resistance at checkpost No.1 where all the casualties occurred, ISPR source said.

He said all terrorists were dressed up in camouflage uniform, who were riding a Suzuki van bearing army number, attacked the checkpost No. 1.

Later, they headed towards Checkpost No. 2 where they were again intercepted by security forces.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - 39 hostages freed, 3 martyred, 4 terrorists killed, leader arrested

 

[air marshal]

PM calls COAS, appreciates successful operation against terrorists

ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday telephoned Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvaiz Kiyani and expressed satisfaction over the successful completion of the operation against the terrorists, who had holed up in a check post near the GHQ.

The prime minister lauded the sacrifices of the ‘jawans’ and officers of the Pakistan Army who laid down their lives in the line of duty and foiled the attempt of the terrorists.

Earlier the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid also called on the Prime Minister at the PM House and discussed the prevailing security situation.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - PM calls COAS, appreciates successful operation against terrorists

 

[air marshal]

President commends Army for successful operation

ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday felicitated the Pakistan Army on successful completion of operation against the terrorists on General Headquarters (GHQ). The President in a message to the Chief of Army Staff General

Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani said the whole nation stands behind its Armed Forces.

President Zardari said it was commendable that the action was completed in shortest possible time.

"This speaks volumes about combat preparedness of our military," he added.

He said saving hostages with minimum casualties is a proof of impeccable supremacy and skillfulness of operational strategy of the Army.

He said "those martyred owe nation's respect and gratitude by saving us from a national embarrassment."

He also appreciated the arrest of one terrorist alive as commendable.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - President commends Army for successful operation

 

[air marshal]

Operation successfully completed: DG ISPR

ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: The search and clearance operation to locate and eliminate terrorists holding 42 persons hostage, holed up in security office of General Headquarter, was successfully completed on Sunday. Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Athar Abbas told media-persons that 39 hostages were freed safely in two phased operation launched at dawn.

A total of nine terrorists were killed while their leader Aqeel alias Dr Usman was captured in injured condition.

Three hostages also embraced shahadat, while 5 others sustained injuries as result of firing by their captors.

Twenty seven hostages were released in first phase and four terrorists were killed by the valiant commandos of the Pakistan Army. While 12 others were rescued in the second phase, also leading to the arrest of terrorists leader, he added.

A total of nine personnel, six on Saturday and three on Sunday, including two officers embraced shahadat during the episode. The Shaheed officers included Brig. Anwar and Lt. Col. Waseem Ahmed.

The terrorists were carrying arms and explosive devices, including suicide jackets, grenades, Improvised Explosive Devices, detonators and other explosive material.

The early Sunday operation lasted for about 45 minutes resulting in death of four terrorists, with the foremost aim to target those two wearing suicide jackets.

Terrorists’ leader Aqeel alias Dr. Usman who somehow managed to escape during the first phase of operation was traced and arrested in the second phase from the adjacent offices of the security building.

DG ISPR told media that in the second phase terrorist Aqeel was successfully overpowered within few minutes and remaining 12 hostages were also safely rescued from the clutches of the terrorists.

Terrorist commander, Aqeel alias Dr. Usman is allegedly the mastermind of terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricket team.

The hostages had been shifted to safer places and were in good health conditions while those injured were accordingly removed to CMH , he added.

He said the combing and search of security office of General Headquarters, where the militants made hostage to the security personnel was over.

He said that there had been no senior officer among the hostages and the majority of hostages comprised army personnel and civilian servants.

Earlier, on Saturday six Army personnel embraced shahadat while five others were injured when the terrorists were challenged by the security staff at the checkpost on the Mall Road near GHQ.

The episode unfolded that at about 11.30 a.m, 9 culprits, riding a suzuki van, started firing at the personnel deputed at the barriers and also hurled hand grenades.

The injured were rushed to hospital as the security officials tried to secure the safe release of security-men who had been taken hostage by those assailants who survived the counter firing by the security guards.

They tried to enter the building while storming a checkpost No.2 near GHQ after initially facing resistance at checkpost No.1 where all the casualties occurred, he said.

He said all terrorists were dressed up in camouflage uniform and had been riding a Suzuki van bearing fake army number plate, attacked the checkpost No. 1.

Later, they headed towards Checkpost No. 2 where they were again intercepted by security forces.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Operation successfully completed: DG ISPR

 

[air marshal]

"To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return". May ALLAH reward him for his work for the country. Ameen.

http://www.app.com.pk/photo/photo_lib/11-10-2009/9dc1b8f8635bf1cb673cd42c832ed92f.jpg

 

[Xeric]

Pakistan probes links between army HQ siege, Lankan cricket team attack- Hindustan Times

Pakistan probes links between army HQ siege, Lankan cricket team attack

Pakistani security forces are investigating possible links between the sole surviving militant from the army headquarters siege and an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, officials said on Sunday.

Military officials said they had arrested a militant named Aqeel, also known as Doctor Usman, the apparent leader of a nine-member team which tried to storm the military headquarters on Saturday and then took 42 people hostage.

Troops stormed the besieged building early Sunday, freeing 39 of the captives. Three hostages, eight soldiers and eight militants were killed over the course of the nearly 24-hour siege in the garrison town Rawalpindi.

Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that Aqeel initially managed to flee and detonated a cache of explosives, injuring five security personnel, but was eventually injured and arrested.

"He was leader of the group," Abbas said.

He told AFP that the militant appeared to have the same name and alias as one of the militants wanted in connection with the March gun and grenade attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore.

That commando-style strike left six policemen and two civilians dead and injured seven Sri Lankan squad members, and bore similarities to the weekend raid on the military command centre in the city adjoining Islamabad.

"The name appears to be the same," Abbas said, but would not comment further until intelligence officials had provided more information on the suspect.

A security official who requested anonymity said that Aqeel was also wanted in connection with a rocket attack on former president Pervez Musharraf in 2007 and the killing of the military's surgeon general in February 2008.

"He is a known terrorist. His name is mentioned in several cases... including the attack on the Sri Lankan team. He will be investigated and the exact details will be known later," the official told AFP.

Initial speculation was that the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, which is accused of the deadly Mumbai siege that killed 166 people in November, was also behind the Lahore attack but they have denied any links to the assault.

Police in July said they had identified seven men accused of planning the deadly attack on Sri Lankan players and that one of them had been arrested.

The Taliban-linked suspect Zubair, alias Nek Mohammad, told reporters that the attack was facilitated by a militant called Doctor Usman.

 

[The Patriot]

i just would like to know what we learned from this incident including the terrorists tactics, our preparedness, and our response. and most importantly the successful operation. i hope senior members and defense experts would better highlight this.

 

[XYON]

i just would like to know what we learned from this incident including the terrorists tactics, our preparedness, and our response. and most importantly the successful operation. i hope senior members and defense experts would better highlight this.

Following are the lessons learned.

1. You cannot take over GHQ or an organized Army by a rag-tag op

2. Such ops do not build support for your ''cause'', they obliterate it

3. Do not underestimate the preparedness of our armed forces

4. Pakistan Army is indeed one of the most professional and prepared armed forces in the world

5. Security rings around major installations can be further improved

 

[evolutionist]

Pakistan frees 39 army HQ officers seized by Taliban. No word on embattled tunnel link to nuclear arsenal
Special Report

October 11, 2009, 3:22 PM (GMT+02:00)


Defending Pakistani army HQ against Taliban
A day and a night after an armed Taliban takeover of Pakistan's main military headquarters in Islamabad, a Pakistani military spokesman said early Sunday, Oct. 11, that all the assailants were killed or arrested and 39 of the 42 hostages they took freed. In the rescue operation Sunday, three hostages, two soldiers and four assailants were killed. Pakistani news coverage was blocked from Saturday, after Taliban gunmen dressed as soldiers burst into its headquarters firing automatic weapons and hurling grenades from a white van. Four assailants were killed and 8 soldiers including a lieutenant general in the ensuing gunfight. The remaining gunmen roamed through the compound and seized the 42 officers hostage.

Reported earlier that the secret department in charge of securing Pakistan's nuclear weapons is at the headquarters compound.

During the 22-hour siege at the HQ compound, a second battle took place between Pakistani paramilitary forces and a second group of insurgents for control of a road tunnel which connects the towns of Darra Adam Khel and Kohat in the North West Frontier Province. There was no word on its outcome.
On May 15, DEBKA-Net-Weekly exclusively named Kohat and the Wah Cantonment Pakistani Ordnance Complex in the city of Kamra, both in the NWFP, as keys to Pakistan's nuclear and missile arsenals.

Our military sources stressed at the time that Kohat's fall to the Taliban would cut off Islamabad and the Pakistani high command from Kamra and its nuclear arsenal. This appeared to be the object of the Taliban push on the tunnel-road coupled with its assault on the military headquarters.

In a rare news conference Saturday, Khalid Kidwai, chief of Pakistan's strategic planning division which controls its nuclear program, rejected international fears that Pakistan's weapons could fall into the wrong hands and warned against any foreign intervention over the issue. "'The state of alertness has gone up," he admitted without going into details, but stressed: "There is no conceivable scenario, political or violent, in which Pakistan will fall to the extremists of the al Qaeda or Taliban types."

A day before, the chief of Pakistan's army, General Ashfaq Kiyani, dismissed as "unrealistic" fears that al Qaeda could seize the country's nuclear weapons.

In its first report, Washington sources reported: The attacks occurred at a defining moment in Washington for the Afghan/Pakistan conflict. President Barack Obama is completing a military review of US military strategy in the two arenas with his top advisers and military commanders. The conference is tilting toward shifting the US military focus away from the Taliban to al Qaeda, despite three factors now illustrated in blood Saturday:

1. Just as Taliban and al Qaeda are inseparable, so too are the Afghan and Pakistan warfronts.

2. Those two organizations hold the war initiative, rather the American army. They are capable of answering the White House's decisions on strategy in unexpected places and ways.

3. Pakistan, America's chosen senior ally in the war against Taliban and al Qaeda, is a broken reed in military terms and too vulnerable to lean on.

By striking inside Pakistan military headquarters, those adversaries demonstrated their ability to reach into any part of government, including the presidential palace, and topple his regime, the same tactic employed in Kabul. They also appeared to be within range of key locations for Pakistan's nuclear and missile arsenals.

For some weeks, the Pakistani army has been concentrating a large force of more than 100,000 men for a big offensive against Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds in the lawless tribal territories of Waziristan bordering on Afghanistan. The attack on its headquarters in Islamabad carried a message: If this offensive goes forward, Pakistan's major cities will pay the price.

Pakistani army chiefs are flatly opposed to President Ali Zardari's deal the Obama administration for $1.5 billion in US aid in return for seriously battling the Taliban and al Qaeda. They accuse the US of interfering in relations between civil government and the military.

The attack on the army's headquarters Saturday would have been taken as a gesture of support for the opponents of a US-Pakistan alliance. It was also a warning that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal may not be entirely safe from terrorist control.

 

[PakShaheen79]

During the 22-hour siege at the HQ compound, a second battle took place between Pakistani paramilitary forces and a second group of insurgents for control of a road tunnel which connects the towns of Darra Adam Khel and Kohat in the North West Frontier Province. There was no word on its outcome.
On May 15, DEBKA-Net-Weekly exclusively named Kohat and the Wah Cantonment Pakistani Ordnance Complex in the city of Kamra, both in the NWFP, as keys to Pakistan's nuclear and missile arsenals.

What Kohat and Darra Adam Khyel has to do with Pakistan Nuclear arsenal?? Kamra has Pakistan aeronautical complex PAC (Non nuclear military installation) Wah has Pakistan Ordinance Factory (Non-Nuclear military installation)... So where is connection. Whole story is plain bullshit.

By striking inside Pakistan military headquarters, those adversaries demonstrated their ability to reach into any part of government, including the presidential palace, and topple his regime, the same tactic employed in Kabul. They also appeared to be within range of key locations for Pakistan's nuclear and missile arsenals.

Yeah and after 9/11 Al-Qaeda was close to take over White house and Pentagon. This is media assault which is going to be waged against Pakistan in coming days with renewed venom.

 

[courageneverdies]

Pakistan will remember 10/11 as the day of great success. It will make us remember that we are invulnerable.

LONG LIVE PAKISTAN AND PAKISTAN ARMED FORCES

KIT Over n Out

 

[TaimiKhan]

a second battle took place between Pakistani paramilitary forces and a second group of insurgents for control of a road tunnel which connects the towns of Darra Adam Khel and Kohat in the North West Frontier Province. There was no word on its outcome.
On May 15, DEBKA-Net-Weekly exclusively named Kohat and the Wah Cantonment Pakistani Ordnance Complex in the city of Kamra, both in the NWFP, as keys to Pakistan's nuclear and missile arsenals.

Our military sources stressed at the time that Kohat's fall to the Taliban would cut off Islamabad and the Pakistani high command from Kamra and its nuclear arsenal. This appeared to be the object of the Taliban push on the tunnel-road coupled with its assault on the military headquarters.

First of all, Kohat is in NWFP and has nothing to do with any kind of nuclear thing. Its just a small city bordering the Tribal area.

Kamra & Wah & Kohat both are separate cities & the first two are in Punjab not NWFP while Kohat is in NWFP which has nothing to do with Pakistan nuclear weapons or any installation.

Secondly, the tunnel links Peshawar & Kohat & an alternate route to this tunnel at the same site of the tunnel is also available which had been in use for the last 100+ years.

And there are many other alternate routes linking these cities are available.

So the facts reported in this report are complete bulllsshit & a pack of lies.

Kamra is just 1 hr drive from Islamabad & its connected by a 6 lane motorway. There is no tunnel linking Islamabad & kamra, the funniest sshit ever heard.

Also to clarify, that another direct route links Islamabad & Kohat directly without going through the tunnel. Plus many other small alternate routes available too.

Complete bullshitt & crap, which we can expect from such people & sources.

 

[S-2]

"...i hope senior members and defense experts would better highlight this."

Two items are in the public purview already. I doubt more would be openly discussed. Tactics, techniques, and procedures are routinely controlled by operational security requirements.

You shouldn't ask and anybody with knowledge shouldn't be telling.

What's obvious, though?

1.) Early (sunrise or wee twilight of morning) attack. General rule which is why most conventional armies will have troops "stand to" generally 30min prior to BMNT (Beginning Morning Nautical Twilight) until thirty minutes after. Read Roger's Rules For Rangers for amplification.

2.) Overhead helicopter. Distraction/diversion in its own right by drawing attention to it as a means of insertion, i.e. troops roping onto a building roof. More importantly, though, is the NOISE which will mask preparations/assembly for insertion/breaching elsewhere by means OTHER than helicopter.

Not much else I can say. Not much else I WOULD say...

 

[Spring Onion]

Pakistan frees 39 army HQ officers seized by Taliban. No word on embattled tunnel link to nuclear arsenal
Special Report

October 11, 2009, 3:22 PM (GMT+02:00)


Defending Pakistani army HQ against Taliban
A day and a night after an armed Taliban takeover of Pakistan's main military headquarters in Islamabad, a Pakistani military spokesman said early Sunday, Oct. 11, that all the assailants were killed or arrested and 39 of the 42 hostages they took freed. In the rescue operation Sunday, three hostages, two soldiers and four assailants were killed. Pakistani news coverage was blocked from Saturday, after Taliban gunmen dressed as soldiers burst into its headquarters firing automatic weapons and hurling grenades from a white van. Four assailants were killed and 8 soldiers including a lieutenant general in the ensuing gunfight. The remaining gunmen roamed through the compound and seized the 42 officers hostage.

Reported earlier that the secret department in charge of securing Pakistan's nuclear weapons is at the headquarters compound.

During the 22-hour siege at the HQ compound, a second battle took place between Pakistani paramilitary forces and a second group of insurgents for control of a road tunnel which connects the towns of Darra Adam Khel and Kohat in the North West Frontier Province. There was no word on its outcome.
On May 15, DEBKA-Net-Weekly exclusively named Kohat and the Wah Cantonment Pakistani Ordnance Complex in the city of Kamra, both in the NWFP, as keys to Pakistan's nuclear and missile arsenals.

Our military sources stressed at the time that Kohat's fall to the Taliban would cut off Islamabad and the Pakistani high command from Kamra and its nuclear arsenal. This appeared to be the object of the Taliban push on the tunnel-road coupled with its assault on the military headquarters.

In a rare news conference Saturday, Khalid Kidwai, chief of Pakistan's strategic planning division which controls its nuclear program, rejected international fears that Pakistan's weapons could fall into the wrong hands and warned against any foreign intervention over the issue. "'The state of alertness has gone up," he admitted without going into details, but stressed: "There is no conceivable scenario, political or violent, in which Pakistan will fall to the extremists of the al Qaeda or Taliban types."

A day before, the chief of Pakistan's army, General Ashfaq Kiyani, dismissed as "unrealistic" fears that al Qaeda could seize the country's nuclear weapons.

In its first report, Washington sources reported: The attacks occurred at a defining moment in Washington for the Afghan/Pakistan conflict. President Barack Obama is completing a military review of US military strategy in the two arenas with his top advisers and military commanders. The conference is tilting toward shifting the US military focus away from the Taliban to al Qaeda, despite three factors now illustrated in blood Saturday:

1. Just as Taliban and al Qaeda are inseparable, so too are the Afghan and Pakistan warfronts.

2. Those two organizations hold the war initiative, rather the American army. They are capable of answering the White House's decisions on strategy in unexpected places and ways.

3. Pakistan, America's chosen senior ally in the war against Taliban and al Qaeda, is a broken reed in military terms and too vulnerable to lean on.

By striking inside Pakistan military headquarters, those adversaries demonstrated their ability to reach into any part of government, including the presidential palace, and topple his regime, the same tactic employed in Kabul. They also appeared to be within range of key locations for Pakistan's nuclear and missile arsenals.

For some weeks, the Pakistani army has been concentrating a large force of more than 100,000 men for a big offensive against Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds in the lawless tribal territories of Waziristan bordering on Afghanistan. The attack on its headquarters in Islamabad carried a message: If this offensive goes forward, Pakistan's major cities will pay the price.

Pakistani army chiefs are flatly opposed to President Ali Zardari's deal the Obama administration for $1.5 billion in US aid in return for seriously battling the Taliban and al Qaeda. They accuse the US of interfering in relations between civil government and the military.

The attack on the army's headquarters Saturday would have been taken as a gesture of support for the opponents of a US-Pakistan alliance. It was also a warning that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal may not be entirely safe from terrorist control.

someone tried to amulgamate old news about Darra Adamkhel, Kohat Tunnel siege hehehe lolzzz

it happens when some moroons try to make up a propaganda in haste

 

[PAFAce]

I have been following this thread for two days straight. I would just like to thank the members for the constant updates, and for the constant conspiracy theories. Never a dull moment, that's for sure.

I would also like to congratulate the SSG on a successful operation. 39 of 42 hostages rescued and one terrorist leader nabbed is a highly successful hostage-rescue score for any counter-terrorist squad around the world. They will be studying this rescue op around the world, for sure (you can bet SAS/Green Beret instructors will be looking closely). All SOF practice this, but few can execute it this successfully. It really will be another feather in the caps of the unparalleled SSG. Textbook planning and masterful execution, especially considering one of the terrorists had a bomb jacket.

Now, I would like to stress that this attack needs to be very, very carefully studied. It was a symbolic attack on the heart of the military establishment. People say it was not a security failure. Well, I say it wasn't entirely a success either. How can we explain 42 hostages, military personnel no less, at the mercy of a handful of terrorists, right in front of the General Head Quarters? No sir, it is not something that can be taken lightly, that's for sure. Also, if the stories about the intel provided in July of a possible attack on GHQ are true, then it was also most assuredly a failure of preparation on our part. Especially after Manawan Training Center, this should have never, ever happened.

Next, we must also consider, very, very seriously, our actions from here on in. The commencement of full scale Rah-e-Nijat in Waziristan came almost as a knee-jerk reaction. This when recently we were hearing "Pak Army not completely prepared for operation in Waziristan". Attacking while unprepared will be playing right into the Taleban's hands. Yes, according to my sources, the preparations were very near completion, but near completion is not the same as completely prepared. I am no professional defence strategist, but I know that attacking the enemy's stronghold with depleted forces is never a good idea. My point here is not that we should not commence Rah-e-Nijat, my point is simply that I hope that we will fight on our terms, rather than theirs.

Lastly, we must also consider the implications of this attack in international eyes. All those people claiming our nuclear assets were in danger? guess what, we just provided them with a decade's worth of ammunition. We will have to prepare, as a nation, for a wave of attacks on our defence capabilities. We will have to repel these attacks strongly. Our neighbor, for example, will waste little time trying to convince the world of our nuclear safety. They will play the "listen, we're afraid the nukes will fall into the wrong hands, and ruin world peace" card, and I am willing to bet my house on this. Unfortunately, I do not believe our politicians have the spine to mount any serious counter-offensives. Our international policy is based more on the fantasies of our leaders than on the pride of a proud sovereign nation. Point being, prepare for a bloody propaganda war, and if possible, vote sensibly next time around.