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Gunmen Have Attacked And Entered A Pakistani Air Force Base Thought To House Nuclear Weapons

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posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:24 PM
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Gunmen have attacked and entered a Pakistan air force base, according to Reuters. The target is the Kamra Air Base, located around 40 miles outside Islamabad. The attacked is believed to be conducted by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

Reports in the Pakistan press have suggested they were planning attacks in retaliation for upcoming military action. A three hour gun battle is reportedly raging between security guards and attackers. Time Magazine's Omar Waraich points out that this is the third attack on the base since 2007. Worryingly, the militants may have good reason to attack the base. Waraich says that the site is home of Pakistan's nascent drone program, and a Telegraph report from 2009 said the site was thought to house Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

Source Three hour gun battle raging?

LIVE UPDATES


4:55am A Pakistan Army squad has arrived at the base to take part in the operation. The attack is similar to that on the Karachi navy airbase. 4:45am It was an organized attack and firing from both sides is continuing. The army has been called in to control the situation. The militants also hurled hand grenades, sources added. Kamra is an airbase where assembling of the JF-17 is carried out. Sources further said the militants failed to reach the aircrafts due to prompt action of the security forces.

edit on 8/15/2012 by iforget because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:28 PM
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I'll wait for confirmation on this story, but if it's true then that's a frightening proposition... Pakistan has ALWAYS been a huge concern of mine since they are a nuclear country that has so many terrorist organizations passing through it .. apparently without care of the government ( bin laden anyone? ) ...

India I am not worried about.. Pakistan I've always been concerned with



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:29 PM
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Reuters reported it first via twitter.. ok this is officially scary.. hopefully it turns out to be nothing..

Sounds like there is no risk of someone getting a bomb since they claim "parts" are scattered about, so you can't have a nuke just from what you get at one place.. but they could in fact get radioactive material.. still not good

This is is pakistan is being honest about that
edit on 8/15/2012 by miniatus because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:39 PM
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Threat


It appears they threatened to do exactly this 5-6 days ago.

Will keep watching the updates and looking for more sources.

Good catch OP.

Regards, Skelllon.



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:40 PM
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And they're that easy to take over? That doesnt sit well with me. I would think that the super advanced weaponry beyond gunfire, where you can drop them with a haarp signal, would apply.



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:44 PM
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reply to post by Unity_99
 


Yes, it does seem strange.

They threaten in advance to attack the air force base, then several days later, they make good on their threat.

This makes me think that either they have an overwhelming force or they were let in.


Regards, Skellon.



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:47 PM
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sooner or later, a terrorist organization will get their hands on a nuke - then we will have to wait and see where they will use it



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:50 PM
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Originally posted by miniatus
Reuters reported it first via twitter.. ok this is officially scary.. hopefully it turns out to be nothing..

Sounds like there is no risk of someone getting a bomb since they claim "parts" are scattered about, so you can't have a nuke just from what you get at one place.. but they could in fact get radioactive material.. still not good

This is is pakistan is being honest about that
edit on 8/15/2012 by miniatus because: (no reason given)


If, as they claim, *parts* are scattered about. It does sound very disorganized. Could it be the chaos left behind from a rapid move of weapons from the facility. They did threaten to attack this base 5 days ago.

Des



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:51 PM
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Originally posted by miniatus


Sounds like there is no risk of someone getting a bomb since they claim "parts" are scattered about, so you can't have a nuke just from what you get at one place


curiously there has been more than one base hit in a similar fashion
I guess this cuurent attack was being compared to this one on a naval base in may of last year
let me see if I can find a source for that I've just read through many articles
Initial Threat Report

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is planning attacks on the Pakistan Air Force Base and other military and security establishments in Lahore before Eid, according to intelligence reports received by the Home Department.



5:35am A statement from the PAF says that the body of a suicide bomber strapped with explosives was found close to the “impact area”. 5:25am Express News reports that five militants have been killed so far. There were reports that nine militants had attacked the airbase.


source
edit on 8/15/2012 by iforget because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 07:59 PM
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Pakistani news.
dawn.com...



KARACHI: Heavily armed militants stormed the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) Kamra airbase located in Attock, Punjab during the early hours of Thursday, DawnNews reported.

An Air Force spokesman confirmed that the base had come under attack from militants, however he declined to give any further details.

According to sources, up to ten militants were estimated to have attacked the base from Pind Salman Makhan village at around 2:30 am. The militants were said to be heavily armed with automatic weapons, grenades and suicide vests. Intense exchange of fire between militants and forces was still underway at the time of reporting.

Additional Army troops were called in to assist in the operation. According to the latest updates, security forces were said to have cordoned off the area and commandos of the Army and PAF were engaged an intense gun battle with the attackers.

It is not known if there are any casualties from the attack from far.

Karma airbase is a heavily guarded compound with the Pakistan Air Force’s Kamra Aeronautical Complex in its vicinity, where Pakistan assembles and overhauls fighter jets in collaboration with China. Located about 70 kms from the Pakistani capital Islamabad, the base is known to house the PAF’s JF-7 Thunder and Mirage jets.

Sources confirmed that at least 30 aircraft were on the base.

In recent weeks, military intelligence had warned of the possibility of such an attack on military installations. However, there was no specific information about an attack being targeted at the Kamra base.

This is not the first time that Kamra has been the target of a terrorist attack. On Oct 23, 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra. Two security officers and six other people were killed in the attack.


I don't think this is a attack on a nuke site. It is a attack on a airbase that houses the PAF’s JF-7 Thunder. The reason that jet is important in this story is it is the jet used to do anti-terrorist operation in South Waziristan. The jet has been tested and used on attacks against the Taliban areas near Afgahistan by Pakistan itself. It was basicly bought for precision attacks used in anti-terrorist operations.



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:12 PM
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reply to post by JBA2848
 


Here is the 2009 Telegraph report linking this Air Base to Nuclear weapons although in reading it there isn't much to go on.


6:10am A search operation is currently underway at the base and there are reports that three militants are possibly in hiding. There are reports that aircraft present at the base were not damaged during the attack.

source

Three missing gunmen and no damaged planes? I guess we just have to hope this was just a simple suicide attack

edit on 8/15/2012 by iforget because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:18 PM
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reply to post by iforget
 

2009 Telegraph.
www.telegraph.co.uk...



The Pakistani Taliban targeted an air base believed to be one of the country’s secret nuclear weapons facilities on Friday among a wave of suicide bombings that killed at least 25 people across the country.


The key phrase is "believed to be". I would have to question that if the Chinese are at the base working with the Pakistanis. A country would allways keep every body out including foriegn countries. How would they know if China will be friendly tomorow?
edit on 15-8-2012 by JBA2848 because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:26 PM
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reply to post by JBA2848
 


I completely agree that the link to any nuclear activity was loose at best it took my awhile to find and read the 2009 report which only states that unnamed "independent experts" believe the air base under attack could be a nuclear site. While the title of the OP article may well be sensationalist, or fear mongering if you prefer, the general concern of Pakistan losing control of nuclear material is a valid one to me



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:34 PM
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Speaking of Pakistan nukes...remember this one



Pakistan Carts Its Nukes Around In Delivery Vans

By Spencer Ackerman

Pakistan is taking nuclear paranoia to a horrifying new low. And it’s making the world a vastly more dangerous place in the process.

Freaked out about the insecurity of its nuclear arsenal, the Pakistani military’s Strategic Plans Division has begun carting the nukes around in clandestine ways. That might make some sense on the surface: no military wants to let others know exactly where its most powerful weapons are at any given moment. But Pakistan is going to an extreme.

The nukes travel “in civilian-style vehicles without noticeable defenses, in the regular flow of traffic,” according to a blockbuster story on the U.S.-Pakistan relationship in The Atlantic. Marc Ambinder and Jeffrey Goldberg write that tactical nuclear weapons travel down the streets in “vans with a modest security profile.” Somewhere on a highway around, say, Karachi, is the world’s most dangerous 1-800-FLOWERS truck.

www.wired.com...



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:36 PM
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reply to post by iforget
 


News from yesterday.

Panetta: Pakistan to Launch Long-Awaited Offensive Against Militants in North Waziristan
www.voanews.com...

Seems North Waziristan was ready to attack first. This Airbase holds the jets that would do the attacks.



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:40 PM
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reply to post by JBA2848
 


Such a complicated area that motives are many fold and often intertwined



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:41 PM
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up to ten militants were estimated to have attacked the base


Up to ten, eh?

Surely the Pakistanis can handle this......



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 08:49 PM
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reply to post by iforget
 


Maliks of Pakistan fighting the Taliban of Afgahnistan. Why do they fight? The US chased the Taliban out of Afgahnistan into Pakistan and the locals don't like them taking over. Now Pakistan are ready to attack the Taliban. They were before but after the 2008 Mumbai attacks the troops were all moved to the Indian boarder incase India tried to retaliate for the Hotel Attack in Mumbai.



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 09:54 PM
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reply to post by iforget
 


The fight is over and the "terrorists" lost; but, the PAF did not win. This was a severe blow to the Pakistani assertions that the Taliban were weakened.

An air force spokesman said the air base at Kamra, in central Punjab province, did not house nuclear weapons. "No air base is a nuclear air base in Pakistan," he said.

Television channels said two soldiers and six of the attackers were killed in the fighting. It was not immediately clear if the attack was beaten back but a Reuters reporter who reached Kamra in the morning did not hear any gunfire.

An air force statement said commandos exchanged gunfire with "terrorists" for hours at the Minhas base in Kamra.

"Terrorists" is the term Pakistani authorities use to describe militant groups such as the Taliban.

The overnight assault challenged official assertions that military operations had severely weakened militants waging a violent campaign to topple the U.S.-backed government and impose strict Islamic rule.

www.reuters.com...

Officials deny that base contained nukes, and claim no planes were damaged.
The only thing sriously damaged is their credibility, or the credibility of their threats.
jw


edit on 15-8-2012 by jdub297 because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 15 2012 @ 10:41 PM
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That airbase must feel stupid. 7 guys can attack a military base in a five hour gun fight. It seems crazy to me they would last that long.

dawn.com...


ATTOCK: Seven heavily armed militants stormed the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) Minhas airbase at Kamra during the early hours of Thursday, sparking an intense gun battle lasting almost five hours, DawnNews reported.



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