PNS Mehran Under Terrorist Attacks: Updates

1. PNS Mehran is currently under attack by the terrorists and over 36 blasts has been reported. Heavy gunfire can esily heard.
2. One of the P-3C was hit by an RPG fired by the terrorists and another was severely damaged due to the close proximity of the location of the aircraft.
3. Naval Special Services Group(SSGN) is conducting operation with help of Pak Marines to flush out and capture the terrorist alive.
4. Four terrorists  have been captured alive and some of the terrorists have been killed in action by the Naval Special Services Group(SSGN).
   
5. Terrorists are using Night vision goggles to see in dark which shows the availably of the high tech equipment and the training to use it effectively. This is highly planned, funded operation by the terrorists.
6. Special Services Group operators of the Pakistan Army have reached PNS Mehran through PAF C-130s to assist the Naval Special Services Group(SSGN).
7. Lt. Syed Yaser Abbas from Lahore, is one of the first martyrs who fought the terrorist at PNS Mehran. He was part of the Rapid Response Team which was first on scene as the alarms were sounded by the guards.
8. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said: "We have been able to confine them to one building and an operation is underway either to kill or capture them."
9. First objective of the Naval Special Services Group(SSGN) was to force terrorists back and act as a wall between the important assets and terrorists so that fire caused by the burning P-3C could be stopped.
10. Operators of the Special Services Group of Pakistan Army are now participating in the operation. They are using M-4 Carbines.
11. One Part of building where terrorists are now hiding has been cleared.
12. CNN is claiming that Taliban has claimed responsibility for attack on a naval base in Karachi.
13. Four to six terrorists has been killed by the security forces while another three killed themselves. Security forces were able to arrest four terrorists.
14. These terrorists were not trained in the typical madrasa type training outfit.
15. Terrorists had high tech equipment like NVD to fight at night, they had right training, logistical support, intelligence support to conduct this kind of attack.
16. Sophistication of the attack looks to be much closer to the level of special forces trained to attack bases behind enemy lines than that of terrorists.
17. This terrorist attack was strategically-driven, not ideologically-driven.
18. Purpose of the attack seems to be to show the world that Pakistan cannot defend its assets and create an impression that Pakistani Nuclear Weapons are safe.
19. "They were carrying guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and hand grenades. They hit the aircraft with an RPG," Pakistan Navy.
20. Four people were killed including three firefighters and one naval officer.
21. Additional operators of the Special Service Group Navy (SSGN) has arrived at the scene.
22. Operation has ended and ten personal embraced shahadat out of which 8 were from Pakistan Navy and two were from Sindh Rangers.
23. Security personnel who achieved martyrdom included one officer Lt. Yasser Abbas, 3 firemen, 3 SSG personnel, 1 sailor and 2 personnel of Pakistan Rangers.

Terrorists Are Successful Again To Attack "PNS Mehran Karachi"

One incident after another and security lapse after lapse have completely exposed the extremely substandard capabilities of the country’s security forces to secure even themselves. Sunday’s terrorist attack on Faisal Base, Karachi, is an addition to a number of attacks in which terrorists have been successful in hitting out at the heart of extremely sensitive strategic locations.

Sunday’s incident was a strange attack; the terrorists didn’t attack the main gate or entrance of the crucially important naval base but reached the center of the base and destroyed a sophisticated aircraft before anyone realized what was going on.

On October 10, 2009, a number of terrorists not only entered the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi but also took dozens of people hostage there for hours. Many people were killed during this terrorist operation on Pakistan’s armed forces’ headquarters.

What is alarming is that in many of these attacks, terrorists reach the place of parade or gathering of security men undetected. Once, the mess hall of the country’s most efficient and trained force, the SSG, was attacked and terrorists killed tens of young officials in cold blood. To this day, the nation does not know how terrorists managed to reach the point where the SSG commandos were dining.

Terrorists have launched similar attacks on different military installations during the last few years without facing any major resistance, which clearly shows there is no concerted security plan to tackle such attacks, offer maximum possible resistance or fight terrorists and stop them from penetrating extremely-sensitive locations.

It is very strange that after an annual budget of Rs600 billion and continuous training from Americans, the Pakistani forces are still unable to even make entry points of their sensitive installations foolproof. Instead of giving full attention to improving their capabilities and removing flaws, the Army’s media persons come out after every mega failure and try to prove in their articles that the incident was not a security failure or lapse but happened because of new techniques used by the terrorists. These embedded journalists also argue that calling these incidents security lapses or security failures is a disservice to Pakistan and tantamount to helping the enemies of Pakistan who want to capture strategic assets of the country.

In this way, the security establishment saves itself from any kind of criticism and no real changes are undertaken to improve the capability of security forces to tactfully tackle the terrorist attacks.

Incidents of the last few weeks have now established that the country’s security and intelligence systems are profoundly inefficient if not a total failure. It is now up to those sitting at the top to decide whether they will allow an independent commission to be set up to make inquires so that flaws and weaknesses can be identified in a professional way and a national strategy adopted to surmount a devastating security situation.

By: Umer Waqqas