Brigadier escapes ambush by militants in Pak capital

ISLAMABAD: Suspected motorcycle-borne militants today made a brazen attempt to assassinate another senior Pakistan army officer, raking his vehicle with indiscriminate fire, but the Brigadier escaped unhurt, in an ambush similar to one just five days ago that resulted in killing of a army officer and a soldier.

Two gunmen, waiting outside the home of Brigadier Waqar Ahmed in the city, opened fire as he emerged in his staff car at around 9 am along with his mother and raked his vehicle with automatic weapons, but he escaped unhurt, police and witnesses said.

The Brigadier's mother who was travelling with him also had a narrow escape.

TV clips showed the car riddled with three bullets and the front screen completely smashed in the capital's prominent residential area. The car was on the move when the bullets hit it.

Abdul Ghafoor, a neighbour who witnessed the attack, said: "the brigadier was going to the bank with his mother. He was sitting in the back seat with his mother when the gunmen opened fire." "The gunmen escaped on a motorcycle without being challenged."

Some witnesses said they had seen the two gunmen waiting outside the officer's home for about 15 minutes.

Police cordoned off the area and launched a search for the attackers.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Tensions are riding high in the city after a spate of suicide bomb attacks and strikes on the Pakistan army headquarters which has left nearly 200 people dead and scores wounded. The attacks have been blamed on Taliban.

But in recent weeks, Taliban is directly attacking army and security force establishments and personnel, apparently in reprisal for army's ongoing offensive on its stronghold of South Waziristan.

On October 22, Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed, who was serving with the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan, and a soldier were killed and another soldier injured when gunmen ambushed their vehicle in a residential neighbourhood of Islamabad.

In that attack too, the gunmen escaped.