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Taliban militants lose control of base 18 hours after deadly attack seen by many as a humiliating blow to Pakistan’s military Pakistani commandos have regained control of a naval airbase from Taliban militants who attacked then occupied the high-security facility for 18 hours . The attackers – who may have numbered no more than six – destroyed at least two US-supplied surveillance planes and killed 12 security officers in an assault that began late on Sunday night. At least four of the attackers were killed. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault in Karachi. The group said it was revenge for the 2 May American raid that killed Osama bin Laden and that insurgents were under orders to fight until the death. “They do not want to come out alive, they have gone there to embrace martyrdom,” said a spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan. Between four to six heavily armed insurgents stormed the Mehran naval base under cover of darkness, using ladders to get into the facility, said the interior minister, Rehman Malik. Once inside, they scattered around the compound, setting off explosions and hiding in the sprawling facility. During the day on Monday, the militants were holed up in an office building in a gunbattle with commandos, said a navy spokesman Irfan ul-Haq said. Navy helicopters flew over the base, and snipers were seen on a runway control tower. By the afternoon, Haq said the militants had been defeated. Commandos leaving the complex flashed victory signs to reporters. At least 11 navy personnel and one paramilitary ranger were killed, while a further 14 members of the security forces were wounded, said Haq. Malik said four militants were killed, but that two possibly escaped, adding that he saw some of the bodies of the attackers. He said the were dressed in black and looked “like the Star Wars characters”. Six Americans and 11 Chinese nationals were on the base at the time of the attack, but escaped unharmed, he said. The insurgents’ ability to penetrate the facility rattled a military establishment already embarrassed by the unilateral American raid on Bin Laden, and raised the possibility they had inside help. It will also likely lead to more questions over the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. In 2009, Islamist terrorists stormed army headquarters close to the capital , Islamabad, holding hostages for 22 hours. But unlike the attack in Karachi, the attackers failed to penetrate the complex further. This is the third major attack the group has claimed since the Bin Laden killing. The others were a car bombing that slightly injured American consulate workers in the north-west city of Peshawar and a twin-suicide attack that killed around 90 Pakistani paramilitary police recruits. The Pakistani prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, condemned the latest attack, saying such a “cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism”. At least two US-made P-3C Orions maritime surveillance planes were destroyed, he said. The US navy puts the cost of the aircraft at $36m (£22m) each. A US embassy spokesman, Alberto Rodriguez, confirmed that six American contractors were on the Mehran base during the time of the attack, but said all were safe. He said the Americans, while working as contractors to help support the P-3C aircraft, did not report to the US embassy or consulate. Four of them were part of a Lockheed Martin contract engineering and technical support team, he added. It was not immediately clear what the Chinese were doing at the base, but Pakistan has purchased Chinese military equipment over the years. Also on Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking anonymously, said a pair of suspected US missiles hit a vehicle and killed four people near the Afghan border. The strike in the Machi Khel area in the tribal region of North Waziristan. Pakistan Taliban Afghanistan Global terrorism Osama bin Laden United States China guardian.co.uk