ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The Pakistan Navy claimed on Monday to have foiled a militant attack on one of its facilities in Karachi over the weekend.

Two militants were killed in the raid while four of the attackers were captured leading to more arrests in other parts of the country.

The Navy said in a statement late on Monday night that “on Saturday a group of miscreants tried to penetrate Pakistan Navy Dockyard area defences at Karachi. Pakistan Navy security personnel responded valiantly and in the ensuing encoun­ter killed two while apprehending four miscreants alive”.

“During their engagement with miscreants, one petty officer embraced Shahadat, while an officer and six sailors sustained injuries. No material loss has taken place,” it further said.

Although the statement did not disclose the exact nature of the assault, or whether it was launched from the land or sea, the number of attackers and their target, brief facts shared by the Pakistan Navy and deliberate delay in making the event public suggested the severity of the incident.

A defence source, meanwhile, claimed that the attackers had actually targeted one of the ships at the sea.

The details were withheld because of the sensitivity of the information.

The arrest of four of the attackers and their interrogation was followed by a search for collaborators and planners.

“Subsequent to interrogation of apprehended miscreants, immediate raids were conducted by the intelligence agencies which led to arrest of other collaborators and accomplices from different parts of the country,” the Navy statement said while explaining the delay in the release of information of the weekend attack.

During these raids, the statement said, a large quantity of arms and ammunition was seized.

The statement said the chief of the naval staff praised the “valour and alertness of all the personnel involved in the operation”.

“He also visited injured personnel and individually appreciated and acknowledged their bravery. In addition to a formal inquiry, investigations by Intelligence and other law-enforcement agencies are in progress,” said the statement.

It was the second terrorist attack on a military facility in a month. On August 14, militants attacked PAF and Army Aviation bases in Quetta.

The Pakistan Navy has a history of coming under terrorist attacks. In May 2011, terrorists targeted its PNS Mehran airbase along the main Sharae Faisal in Karachi considered as the biggest on its assets in recent history.

In that attack, which was claimed by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the assailants stormed into the heavily-guarded facility using sophisticated weapons firing rocket-propelled grenades which badly damaged defence assets, including the Pakistan Navy’s surveillance aircraft P-3C Orion.

Published in Dawn, September 9th , 2014