KAMRA, Pakistan — Heavily armed militants stormed a Pakistani air force base on Thursday, sparking clashes that left 10 people dead and raised concerns about the safety of the country’s nuclear arsenal.



One security official was killed and a plane damaged in the pre-dawn assault at PAF Base Minhas claimed by the Taliban as militants again proved able to penetrate a sensitive military site five years into an insurgency.

The first strike on a base in more than a year came amid speculation that Pakistan could bow to US demands for an operation against militants in their main fortress of North Waziristan, in the tribal belt on the Afghan border.



An official denied there were nuclear weapons on the heavily guarded base, but the audacious assault raised further questions in the West about the dangers of Pakistan’s atomic weapons falling into extremists’ hands.

The Pakistan Air Force said nine attackers dressed in military uniforms and armed with rocket propelled-grenades and suicide vests targeted the base and adjacent Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at 2:00 A.M.



PAF Minhas, in the town of Kamra in Punjab province 60 km northwest of Islamabad, has been attacked twice before.



The adjacent complex assembles Mirage and, with Chinese help, JF-17 fighter jets.



“Eight miscreants were killed inside the Minhas base boundary wall and one miscreant exploded himself outside the perimeters where he was hiding,” the air force announced.



It said there had been a shootout “for more than two hours” and 10 hours after the assault began, spokesman Tariq Mahmood confirmed the base was “totally safe”.



The Pakistani Taliban said planes at the base were being used to kill its fighters. Witnesses said the attackers came round the back, scaling the wall and exploiting the holiest night of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to remain undetected as long as possible.



Elsewhere in the northwest, gunmen in military uniforms pulled 20 Muslims travelers from vehicles and shot them dead in the northwestern district of Mansehra, the third such incident in six months, officials said.



“After checking their papers, they opened fire and at least 20 people are reported to have been killed. This is initial information and the final toll may go up,” said local administration chief Khalid Omarzai. — Agencies