Gunman attack Minhas AFB in Pakistan

Several militants wearing military uniforms and suicide belts stormed Minhas air base at Kamra, near the capital Islamabad, just before dawn.

Eight militants were killed, one soldier also died and the base commander was seriously injured.

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The attackers initially fired rocket-propelled grenades from outside, which damaged one aircraft.

Air force spokesman Tariq Mahmood said the attackers then scaled a wall to get inside the base, though they did not reach the hangars there.

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Minhas is one of Pakistan's biggest air bases with about 30 fighter jets including new JF-17 planes - jointly developed with China - that are being assembled there. It is about 60km (35 miles) north-west of Islamabad.

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Sad news about the casualties to the Pakistani base personnel and it is quite surprising that the base commander was hit. Maybe indication that the attackers had inside help/info and that the base commander was specifically targeted to try to weaken the base's response to the attack.

However, it would appear that despite that setback, the base defenses managed to do a very decent job, certainly much better than the previous high-profile attacks on Pakistani military bases, so it looks like valuable lessons were learnt from those attacks that helped to make this base better prepared this time.

I would like to get more info on what type of aircraft was damaged and the extent.

There seem to be some confusion, so if anyone has more info on the aircraft types that are based there, it would be very useful to know. Also, is Minhas just an AFB, or is it also a production facility for JF17s?

Didn't some of our forum members warned that Pakistan invests too much, if not everything, into Kamra just like putting all its eggs into one basket. Look what has happened. Fortunately, they managed to protected it.

this is indeed a very sad day for Pakistan, it is yet another reminder that Pakistan remains in a state of war with many well trained and foreign funded organisations

the attackers were wearing Pakistan Army uniforms and were confronted at the check post outside the base, PAC Kamra is a very heavily defended area which has safe houses and secure locations, it is also protected by Pakistan army commandos and air force commandos, and on this occasion they were the ones who engaged the terrorists and foiled the attack, the attackers had no chance this is not PNS Mehran the protocols for security are extremely tight my family members stay on the base and I’ve been in it and I know in the past I’ve talked really openly about the facility and have pictures of it too, and I even thought it was a bad idea at the time and now I know why, so going to keep it limited

it is not just an air base but a secure military installation the size of a small town, with hospitals, schools, universities and parks where family’s stay and live on the base

Kamra is home to many installations and does include the JF-17 production facility and there were a dozen Chinese on the base when the attack happened all were sent to a secure location and are safe, the attacker’s came in from nearby villages using them as cover there are some weak links around the perimeter of the base since its so massive

It is reported that one aircraft was damaged, possibly a Erieye which suffered rudder damage radar is fine, when it was hit by shrapnel from a RPG from a distance, the attackers never got onto the base, hence Erieye AWACS and Thunders were safe

ex-PAF offical also said on Islambad tonight that the body of another aircraft was damaged slighty this was of IL-78 tanker

It is almost impossible to stop someone who is willing to die for their objective, even Israel couldn’t stop suicide attacks they built a wall, but Overall the attack was foiled and we stopped the attackers from achieving their goal which was to destroy our aircraft and kill our soldiers, in that respect it was a successful engagement and many lessons learned

Was Kamra chosen by the militants because it is a major, high profile military installation, or do you think this attack was more specifically aimed at JF17s since they have been used in air strikes against militant targets in Pakistan's tribal areas, or a mixture of the two?

I think the Pakistani military would be pretty justified to chalk this up as a win for them despite the casualties as the outcome was just about as well as one could hope for when a military installation is attacked by well armed, well trained attackers with good intel and who were prepared to die to achieve their objectives.

I think any military in the world would be more than willing to accept this result if a similar raid was launched against one of their bases.

if they wanted to go for the armed services there are many other targets, Kamra is a hub with military activity and distrupting it was the main aim, indeed JF17 and Erieye and many other aircraft are stationed there and they probably throught they could do another P3C Orion style attack, but PAC Kamra is too heavily defended for that, from the ground and the air, aircraft are on CAP missions all the time above the skies with live weapons

on the ground high tech survaillence equipment is installed and everycheck point is heavily manned with heavy calibre weapons, infact the GT road has high towers from where snipers can overlook the entire area

the attackers tried and failed to knock out our aircraft, they also tried to kill as many of the soldiers, maybe even trying their luck at getting foreigners but they failed, they failed because Kamra is well protected and well prepared, i mean they even disguised themselves with fake Pak issued uniforms and passes, (the pictures of their dead bodys has been released but i wont post them here) wearing suicide belts underneith and they still never managed it past the first layer of defence, this is the kind of determined foe Pakistan is facing