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ISLAMABAD : Gunmen fired shots at Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's plane Friday apparently in a crude assassination attempt involving anti-aircraft guns like those used by the Taliban, officials said.
The incident happened as the aircraft took off from a military airbase, but the shots did not hit the aircraft or harm Musharraf, a key US ally who has escaped several Al-Qaeda-linked bids to kill him.
"It was an unsuccessful attempt to shoot down the president's plane," one intelligence official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Musharraf was flying from the Chaklala military base in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining Islamabad, to the southwestern town of Turbat to visit people affected by recent floods, the military said.
Police immediately surrounded a house in Rawalpindi and recovered from the roof two anti-aircraft guns and a 7.62 mm machinegun with a telescope that was modified for the same purpose, the interior ministry said.
Only the latter weapon had been fired and there were several empty shells at the scene, it said in a statement.
"At the moment there does not appear to be any linkage between the incident and the president's flight to Turbat. The matter is under investigation by the security services and a definite answer will only be available on completion of the investigations," the statement said.
Pakistani military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad earlier denied that the shots had targeted Musharraf's plane. He also denied reports that a rocket was fired.
But intelligence officials dealing directly with the incident insisted Musharraf's plane was the target of the gunshots.
They said a couple several days ago had rented the house where the guns were found and had since fled.
Security forces arrested the owner of the house and recovered the weapons and crudely-made wooden tripods, one official said.
The guns were "similar to those used by the Taliban in Afghanistan," said the official.
Neighbour Sheikh Ilyas Goga said he had never seen the house's owner, a bearded man said to be in his 40s.
"We heard a very loud burst of gunfire near our house but we did not know where it had come from until police raided the place next door," he told AFP.
Security officials said it was "possible that the incident was against the backdrop of the episode of Lal Masjid," referring to the ongoing siege of a radical mosque in Islamabad.
Musharraf has incurred the bitter enmity of Islamic militants who oppose his ties to the United States and his support for the overthrow of the Taliban from power in Afghanistan after 9/11.
In October 2006, security forces found rockets aimed at Musharraf's official residence in Islamabad while an explosion occurred near his army house in Rawalpindi. He said the incidents had possible links to Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda was blamed for a suicide attack targeting Musharraf's motorcade on Christmas Day 2003 in Rawalpindi that left 14 people dead. He escaped unscathed.
Less than two weeks earlier he had survived another assassination attempt when attackers blew up a bridge as his limousine passed, but electronic jamming equipment in the car delayed the blast.
Security forces have foiled at least two other major plots to kill Musharraf since he took power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in 1999.
In a number of those cases there have been official denials that Musharraf was the target, which were later contradicted.
- AFP
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