On Saturday, five militants wearing army uniforms attacked the highly guarded army headquarters at Rawalpindi and took people as hostage. The accounts of the number of dead however vary. Pakistani commandos later stormed into the building and rescued dozens of hostages. These terrorists were apparently well prepared to continue fighting to up to five days with sufficient amount of food supplies. They were secured with enough suicide jackets, modern devices and explosives.

 

The attacks came in the wake of a large offensive being planned by the army against the Taliban militants in South Waziristan. A huge shock for the Pakistan establishment, the attack came as a wake up call for the government, which had earlier claimed that the militants were now crippled by all the recent offensive launched by the army across certain parts of the country.

 

The surviving militant, identified as Aqeel alias Dr Usman, is allegedly the leader of the group. Aqeel was injured in the army offensive while his four accomplices were gunned down. According to Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the military spokesperson, Aqeel tried to escape by triggering off a large number of explosives but was captured by the commandos.

 

A TV news channel quoted military officials saying Aqeel, who belongs to Kahuta, near Rawalpindi, was linked with the attack in Lahore on the Sri Lankan cricket team which killed eight people and left many more injured. He is also being accused of many attacks, including alleged involvement in attacks on former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.

 

Aqeel, a worker with the Army medical stores, also allegedly had links with the Tehrik-e-Taliban in Punjab, Pakistan and the infamous, late Taliban chief, Baitullah Mehsud.