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Summary
About 4 to 5 terrorists are holding 10-15 people, including security and civil personnel, hostage in a security office of GHQ, DG ISPR Maj. General Athar Abbas said on Saturday. Security personnel have surrounded the office. Earlier, an attempt to attack the General Head Quarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army has been foiled in Rawalpindi, Dunya News Saturday reported. Terrorists clad in military uniform attacked on a security post with modern weapons and hand grenades in which six officials including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel were martyred while four terrorists got killed in the retaliation fire. DG ISPR told that terrorists wanted to target GHQ since long. Talking to Dunya News ISPR DG Major General Athar Abbas said that terrorist came at 11:00am in a white pickup. They were dressed in security officials uniform. They opened fire when they were stopped at the first check post of the GHQ along the Mall. Four soldiers were martyred in the firing, the general informed. Terrorists threw hand grenades and advanced towards the second check post where intense exchange of fire took place which continued for an hour. Four terrorists were killed in the meanwhile. Major General Abbas observed that terrorists were in uniform which confused the officials at the first check post and the terrorist opened fire. The officials injured in the operation have been shifted to the hospitals. The general revealed that two terrorists fled the scene and the search operation was underway to arrest them. The choppers were also called to help the security officials during operation. Security officials surrounded the area after the incident while the shops and business centers in the adjoining areas were closed. Some suspects have also been held while Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has accepted the responsibility of the incident. On the other hand Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Dunya News that there was a justification of Waziristan Operation following the current incident of terrorism. He believed that terrorism was linked to South Waziristan. The minister maintained that Dawar and Mehsud tribes had asked the government to launch operation in Waziristan. The minister confirmed that six officials were martyred in operation while TTP accepted the responsibility. Prime Minister and President have strongly condemned the incident. Senior analyst Najam Sethi told Dunya News that Al-Qaeda wanted to destabilize Pakistan. He opined that the attacks were expected after the death of Baitullah Mehsud.
