All attackers killed in assault on PNS base Malik

KARACHI Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Monday that 17 foreigners, 11 of them Chinese maintenance workers, were recovered safely from a Pakistani naval air base after it came under attack.

“There were 17 foreigners and I want to make it clear, no one was taken hostage,” he told reporters.

“They were shifted from the base. They included 11 Chinese. All our guests are safe,” he said.

A US embassy spokesman in Islamabad told AFP six American contractors had also been on the base, providing maintenance support for navy aircraft. He said that all Americans had been accounted for.

Malik also said that all those who attacked the base were killed during the siege and added that 10 security personnel had also been killed, lowering an earlier toll of 13.