Kamra attack: Three PAF officers to face court martial on negligence
The officers were formally arrested recently in connection with August 16, 2012, terror attack.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Court martial against three low-ranking officials of Pakistan Air Force has begun for their negligence to prevent the terrorist attack on Minhas Airbase at Kamra in 2012, a foreign news agency reported.
The PAF officers were formally arrested recently in connection with August 16, 2012, terror attack.
According to a military source the officials were not facing court martial for their involvement in terror attack rather they were indicted over charges of negligence.
The strategically important airbase came under attack when at least nine militants stormed the base destroying a Saab 2000 surveillance aircraft and killing a security official. All nine militants were later killed in shootout with security forces.
Several squadrons of fighters and surveillance planes are said to be housed at the Minhas base. Over 30 planes were parked at the base, including JF-17 Thunder fighter jets at the time of attack.
The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was a revenge of May 2011 secret US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound.
The airbase, located 70 km north of the capital, is a heavily guarded compound with the air force’s Kamra Aeronautical Complex also in its vicinity, where Pakistan assembles and overhauls JF-17 Thunder fighter jets in collaboration with China.
The key strategic installations of PAF and Navy have been the target of militants.
In 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra. Two security officers and six other people were killed in the attack.
In 2011, six Taliban gunmen attacked a naval base in Karachi killing at least 10 military personnel and injuring 20 others.
