Pakistan troops storm army HQ, hostages freed

Three hostages, two soldiers and four militants were killed in the operation

Brazen 24-hour siege in Garrison city comes to an end
Pakistan troops storm army HQ, hostages freed

Rawalpindi, PAKISTAN (Agencies)
Pakistani troops stormed army headquarters Sunday to end a day-long hostage drama, freeing 39 people held by militants who brazenly struck at the heart of the military establishment.Three hostages, two soldiers and four militants were killed in a rescue operation hailed by the military as "highly successful" despite a total of 19 killed since the rebels launched their assault.Six soldiers and four other militants had already been killed in the 24-hour siege, which began Saturday in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and was the third dramatic militant strike in the nuclear-armed nation in a week.

The audacious attack exposed Pakistan's vulnerability in the face of a Taliban militia who have regrouped after the death of their leader and are determined to thwart an army assault on their tribal hideouts, analysts said.The military released photographs of the four militants killed Saturday, all young men with shreds of olive-green army uniforms still visible on the corpses.The drama unfolded just before midday on Saturday, when nine Taliban gunmen in military uniform and armed with automatic weapons and grenades drove up to the compound and shot their way through one check post.Four militants and six soldiers were killed near a second post but the rest of the rebels fled during the firefight, taking military employees hostage in a building near the army HQ in the city adjoining the capital Islamabad.

History of violence
The attack on the army came after a violent week.Last Monday, a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad killing five members of staff, and on Friday a suspected suicide bomber killed 49 people in Peshawar."What happened in Peshawar, Islamabad and today, all roads lead to South Waziristan," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday. "Now the government has no other option but to launch an offensive."The army has been preparing an offensive with air and artillery attacks but has not said when ground troops will go in.The Rawalpindi raid bore the hallmarks of several similarly audacious "swarm" attacks this year.In March, gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team as it drove to a match in the city of Lahore and weeks later militants raided a police cadet college in the same city.Those attacks were blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, widely believed to have been helped by militant groups based in Punjab province.At least some gunmen who carried out the Rawalpindi raid this weekend were believed to have been Punjabis. Some hostage takers' phone calls were intercepted and they were speaking Punjabi, a security official said.The United States needs Pakistani help against militants crossing into Afghanistan to fight U.S.-led forces there and has been urging action against Afghan Taliban factions on the border.In March, militants pushed to within 100 km (60 miles) of Islamabad, sparking grave concern among allies, including the United States, for Pakistan's prospects and fears for the safety of its nuclear weapons.In late April, the army launched an offensive in the Swat valley, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, and largely cleared the Taliban out.The militants suffered another big blow on Aug. 5, when their leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a missile attack by a U.S. drone aircraft. His successor vowed revenge last week.