KARACHI, Pakistan, May 23 (UPI) -- An attack on Pakistan's major naval and air base shocked the military and raised new concerns about its ability to safeguard its nuclear arms, observers said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan a Pakistani Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the attack at the Mehran base near Karachi.
The attack began Sunday night and continued into Monday, lasting 17 hours.
Gunmen armed with rockets and explosives stormed the facility, destroying two newly supplied U.S.-made P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft, Geo News reported.
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Karachi, already plagued by political, sectarian and ethnic violence that has killed hundreds, is Pakistan's largest city and its main port, where supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan arrive.
An official base spokesman said 12 navy and ranger personnel died in the incident, Geo News reported. The APP said at least 14 more security personnel were wounded, and that four attackers were killed and two escaped.
The spokesman said the attack was carried out by gunmen who sneaked into the base on ladders Sunday night.
CNN quoted two witnesses as saying there were at least 10 explosions, followed by heavy gunfire at the base, which is near Karachi's main airport.
Some of the explosions might have resulted from the destruction of the military aircraft and a fuel tank catching fire.
Ghazanfar Ali, a former brigadier general, told the Financial Times the attack would "hurt Pakistan's reputation as a nuclear weapons state" by exposing its vulnerability.
"There is more concern about the plutonium and highly enriched uranium in production facilities and laboratories, which involve considerably more people and facilities that aren't as protected as well as military bases," said David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.
The security establishment insists the nuclear arsenal is well-guarded.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ihsan Ullah told CNN the attack was to avenge the killing of innocent civilians. He blamed the Pakistani security forces for the killings at America's behest in the name of war on terror.
