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| India-Pakistan | |
| More on the Rawalpindi GHQ attackers | |
| 2009-10-12 | |
| (Reuters) - Three hostages, two commandos and four of the gunmen were killed in the pre-dawn rescue operation, said army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. One wounded gunman was captured and Abbas said he was the ringleader. Commandos launched their assault under cover of darkness with a blast and gunfire erupting at 6 a.m. (8 p.m. Saturday EDT). "They were in a room with a terrorist who was wearing a suicide jacket but the commandos acted promptly and gunned him down before he could pull the trigger," Abbas said of one large group of hostages. Three of the hostages were killed due to militant firing," he said. More hostages were later found alive. Interior Minister Malik said the raid, which bore the hallmarks of several similarly ruthless "swarm" attacks this year, was apparently carried out by Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda. They are widely believed to have been helped by militants from Punjab province. Abbas identified the militant captured on Sunday as Aqeel, alias Dr Usman. A security official in Punjab said Usman was believed to be a member of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group.
Some hostage takers' phone calls were intercepted and they were speaking Punjabi, another security official said. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 Because the pessimism isn't good for recruiting efforts? |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-10-12 02:34 |
| #1 gunned him down before he could pull the trigger, What, does nobody use a deadman switch any more? Sheesh that's what I thought it was invented for... |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-10-12 01:33 |