Pak gunmen attack senior army officer

The brigadier and his military driver were injured and taken to a nearby hospital, said Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the spokesman for the Pakistani military. The gunmen escaped.

Gen Abbas said the attack took place around 8:30 am. An Islamabad police official, Tahir Malik, told Dawn television that the assailants were waiting for the brigadier as he left his house and opened fire on his car as it turned onto a main road.

Gen Abbas said the brigadier, who was not identified, was in stable condition and was speaking to military officials. His driver, however, was in serious condition. The recent attacks on senior officers appear to be direct reprisals for the army’s ongoing offensive against the Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in  South Waziristan.

The attacks from motorcycles also seem to signal a new tactic being used by Islamist militants in the capital. Previously, military personnel have travelled relatively freely and openly in Islamabad.

On October 22, Brig Moinudin Ahmed was assassinated while riding in his jeep. Two assailants on a motorcycle fired on his vehicle in rush-hour traffic, killing him and his driver, and wounding another soldier.

The attackers used automatic weapons to fire on the jeep and then disappeared into heavy traffic.