LAHORE: The hostage taking drama at the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army in the garrison town of Rawalpindi finally came to an end on Sunday morning after almost 18 hours when a group of the highly trained special services group commandos carried out a swift operation to rescue 39 of their 42 khaki colleagues alive. Three hostages, two army commandos and four more terrorists were killed during the rescue operation while the ring leader of the fidayeen squad Aqeel alias Dr Osman was captured alive in critical condition.
The rescue operation, carried out around 6 a.m. local time, ended a crisis that began when the Islamic militants attacked the military central command in the northern city of Rawalpindi, initially killing six army personnel including a Brigadier and a Colonel, then taking hostages in a stand-off that lasted through the night. The rescue operation freed hostages who were being held in a building inside the headquarters by a suicide bomber, who was shot dead during the action. “They were in a room with a terrorist who was wearing a suicide jacket, but the commandoes acted promptly and gunned him down before he could pull the trigger”, said the Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas in Islamabad.
Athar Abbas said Aqeel alias Osman initially managed to flee and detonated a cache of explosives, injuring five security personnel, but was eventually injured and arrested by the commandos. He said Aqeel 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 Lahore in March 2009. The commando-style strike had 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 GHQ assault was the third major terrorist attack to hit Pakistan in six days, and likely was a warning from Pakistani Taliban of the bloodshed that will ensue from Pakistan’s planned Washington-backed military offensive in the Waziristan region, the base of country’s extremism and an important refuge for insurgents fighting in neighboring Afghanistan. While other recent attacks resulted in more bloodshed, the target Saturday was deeply symbolic for a country dominated by its armed forces. Many Pakistani analysts believe the GHQ assault was a very serious blow to the Pakistani security forces.
The city of Rawalpindi, about 30-minute drive from Islamabad, is ringed by check points and should be one of the best-protected places in the country. The military headquarters is located in the city center, on a huge well-guarded campus. The Islamabad Police raided a house Saturday on the outskirts of Islamabad, where the assailants are thought to have lived for several weeks or even months while preparing the attack. The strike at the heart of the powerful military called into question government assertions the militants were virtually crippled by recent setbacks. But a top official said it only underlined the need to finish them off.
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