They attack a military base in Pakistan, 10 dead, including nine attackers

A group of heavily armed fighters on Thursday attacked a base of the Pakistan Air Force, in an episode that left 10 dead and raised fears about the safety of nuclear weapons in the country. Nine Taliban killed a member of the security forces before being killed. One of the assailants committed suicide. The assault was claimed by the Movement of Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the main Islamist rebel group in this country and allied with al-Qaida. A security officer was killed and one aircraft was damaged in the attack, which began before dawn in the Air Force base in which Minhas and attackers showed their ability to enter a high security military installation. A core leader denied he had attacked nuclear weapons facilities, but the assault revives the questions in several Western countries about the dangers of the Pakistani nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremist groups. According to the Pakistan Air Force, the nine attackers dressed in military uniform but armed with rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests attacked the base and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, where they are assembled and Mirage fighter aircraft JF-17. The air base, located in the town of Kamra, in the Punjab, had been attacked twice. "Eight infidels were killed inside the air base and a unfaithful committed suicide by blowing up his explosive vest outside the perimeter of the base, where he was hiding," said Air Force in a statement. The note also said that the fighting spread "over two hours." More than 10 hours after the assault, the Air Force spokesman, Tariq Mahmood, confirmed that the base was "completely safe". Witnesses said the attackers came from the back of the base, taking advantage of the holiest night of the Muslim month of Ramadan. An official told AFP that he saw flames. "There was an announcement over the megaphone to the soldiers not to move from the barracks and we were forbidden to go to the place where I saw the fire," he said. Special forces and police rushed to the area of ​​the attack. Mahmood said the soldier also died, the base commander was wounded in the shoulder.Other attacks on Pakistani military bases balances previously left much higher casualties. In May 2011, an attack on an air base in Karachi, claimed by the Taliban, lasted 17 hours until it was controlled, embarrassing the armed forces of Pakistan just three months after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Thursday's attack was the second in weeks with victims and relatively close to the capital. On July 9, gunmen killed seven soldiers who were camping near a river less than 160 kilometers from Islamabad. Pakistan declared a state of alert since Tuesday, Independence Day and also for the Muslim festival of Eid, which should start the weekend. On Tuesday, the army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, delivered a speech on Independence Day in which he stated that the war on terror "is our own war, and a just war." "No state can tolerate a parallel system of government and militias," he said, to call the nation to remain united and firm against the risks of a "civil war situation." Kamra base had been attacked in October 2009 when a suicide bomber killed six civilians and two Air Force officials. Earlier, in December 2007, five children, children of base employees were injured after a suicide bomber crashed a car bombing of a school bus.