Attack on warship highlights al-Qaeda's infiltration of Pakistani military
Militant who led mission to hijack warship had been sacked from the navy for extremist views
Months after Owais Jakhrani was sacked from Pakistan's navy for radical Islamist views, he led an audacious mission to take over a warship and turn its guns on a US naval vessel on the open seas.
The early September dawn raid at a naval base in the southern city of Karachi was thwarted, but not before Jakhrani, two officers and an unidentified fourth assailant snuck past a patrol boat in a dinghy and engaged in an intense firefight on or around the warship, PNS Zulfiqar.
Four people were killed in the attempt to hijack the Zulfiqar, including Jakhrani and two accomplices, who were serving sub-lieutenants, according to police reports.
Officials are divided about how much support the young man in his mid-20s had from inside the navy. They also stress that Jakhrani and his accomplices were a long way from achieving their aim when they were killed.
But the attack, claimed by al-Qaeda's newly created South Asian wing, has highlighted the threat of militant infiltration into Pakistan's nuclear-armed military.
The issue is a sensitive one for Pakistan's armed forces, which have received billions of dollars of US aid since 2001 when they joined Washington's global campaign against al-Qaeda.