Taliban siege of Pakistan Navy air base ends; 14 killed

Karachi: Taliban’s 16-hour brazen siege of Pakistan Navy’s key Mehran airbase here came to an end after the elite commandos backed by hundreds of paramilitary personnel and helicopters shot dead four heavily armed militants after an intense battle, while two escaped.
But before they were silenced, the handful of Taliban militants, wearing suicide vests, destroyed the Pakistan’s two front line P3C Orion US acquired maritime spy planes and killed 10 security men including an officer and some firemen.
Three weeks after the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which they described as “suicide operation” to avenge his death.