Heavily armed militants were holding up to 15 soldiers hostage inside Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday after they stormed the complex in an audacious assault on the nuclear-armed country's most powerful institution, AP reported. The attack, which left 10 people dead including two ranking officers, was the third major militant strike in Pakistan in a week. It came as the army was planning an imminent offensive against the insurgents in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan. It showed that the militants retain the ability to stage complex attacks on the heart of Pakistan's security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said «four or five» assailants were holding between 10 and 15 troops hostage in a building close to the main gates of the complex in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital, Islamabad. He said the building had no connection to any of the country's intelligence agencies. No senior military or intelligence officials were among those being held, he said. -- SPA
