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FC, Civil Aviation officials take control of Shamsi airbase

Dunya News

Frontier Corps and Civil Aviation personnel took control of the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan.

Security forces took control of Shamsi airbase in Balochistan after US military personnel vacated the facility in line with a demand from the government.The government had asked the US to vacate the airfield after NATO attack on two border posts in Mohmand Agency on November 26 in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.The US had been using the airbase since late 2001 for military operations in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistans tribal belt, according to sources.Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had said last week that the US had been asked to vacate the airbase by December 11. Troops from the Frontier Corps took control of the airbase late Saturday evening after most of the US personnel left the airfield.Only one US transport plane was parked at the airbase to transfer remaining personnel and equipment, sources said.Officials of the Civil Aviation Authority too arrived at the airbase to take full control of it after the remaining American officials leave the facility.The US had already shifted five drone aircraft from Shamsi airbase to Afghanistan. US personnel dismantled residential barracks which had been set up for the military personnel.The United Arab Emirates had leased the airbase, located about 300 km from the Balochistan capital of Quetta, in 1992 for use by members of the countrys royal family who travel to Pakistan every year for hunting expeditions.The UAE gave the US access to the airbase after the 9/11 terror attacks, according to Westerna media reports.Shamsi airbase was originally built to operate small aircraft and the US extended the runway so that larger military aircraft could be based there.Reports by American media have said that Shamsi was used by CIA-operated drones that carried out attacks on militants in tribal regions.
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