To target specific area of the base to me means one of the two things
1. Inside info, which is highly unlikely
2. Satellite imagery info and guidance, which is highly likely
I stress point 2 because this TTP is not a rag tag terror group. it is being supported, trained and resourced from across the border. Their attacks help the western narrative on Pakistan.
Read my above post with the report on link below to know what i mean. even if the air base may not be remotely linked to nuclear program, it will be reported as such. This is how the perception is so masterfully manipulated. This is an art which we are not even aware of.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/w...-nuclear-ties-is-attacked.html?_r=1&ref=world
KARACHI, Pakistan Suspected Islamist militants early on Thursday attacked a major Pakistani Air Force base where some of the countrys nuclear weapons are thought to be stored, setting off a heavy gun battle in which eight attackers and one security official were killed.
The attack on the Minhas air force base in Kamra, 25 miles northwest of the capital, Islamabad, was a stark reminder of the militants determination to attack Pakistans most sensitive installations despite ongoing military operations in their tribal hide-outs.
The sprawling air base, in the Attock district of Punjab, is believed to be one of the locations where elements of Pakistans nuclear stockpile, estimated to include at least 100 warheads, is stored. It is also home to a variety of warplanes, including American-built F-16s, and contains a factory that makes JF-17 fighter jets in conjunction with China.
The assault came amid mounting speculation that Pakistans military was preparing to carry out an operation in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, in the tribal belt a longstanding demand of the United States.
Security official said the gunmen, who were armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, and had explosives strapped to their bodies, attacked Minhas at about 2 a.m. A two-hour battle with soldiers stationed on the base resulted in damage to an aircraft hangar and one warplane stationed inside, the officials said.
An air force spokesman said the base commander, Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, was wounded in the shoulder during the fight.
Militants have attacked Kamra three times before in 2007, when a suicide bomber hit a bus near the entrance to the Minhas air base; in 2008, when militants fired several rockets into the base; and in 2009, when a suicide bomber riding a bicycle blew himself up on an approach road.
The latest assault resembled a May 2011 assault on a military base in Karachi in which at least two American-built surveillance aircraft were destroyed and 10 people were killed.
The episode on Thursday was not entirely unexpected. On Aug. 10, the daily Express Tribune, quoting intelligence officials, reported that the Pakistani Taliban were planning to attack an air force base near Lahore before Id al-Fitr, the Islamic festival that marks the end of Ramadan and that is expected to fall around Monday this year.
Arif Rafiq, an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, noted that the attack coincided with the speculation about a military operation in North Waziristan.
The Taliban are telling Pakistans leadership, If you hit us here, well hit you everywhere, he said.
