Karachi, May 23 (IANS) A 15-hour terror siege of a key military base in this Pakistan port city finally ended Monday afternoon with 14 people, including four terrorists, being killed in the fierce exchange of gunfire and the more than 20 blasts that rocked the sprawling complex.
The 17 foreigners working at the PNS Mehran naval base were safe, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said after curtains came down on the brazen terror strike, which comes within three weeks of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden being gunned down by US commandos in Abbottabad city on May 2. The Taliban had vowed retaliation.
 
 Malik said the terror attack had been put down "successfully" and attackers had killed 10 security personnel and firemen. A naval and an air force base are part of the heavily fortified complex.
 
 He said bodies of three terrorists had been recovered. The head of another terrorist, presumed to be a suicide bomber, was found. Fifteen people were injured in the mayhem that began at 10.30 p.m. Sunday.
 
 Earlier reports had said 12 people had been killed.
 
 Calling it a "pre-planned" operation at one of Pakistan's biggest military bases, Malik said a high alert had been issued across the country after fears of more attacks from Islamists angered by Osama bin Laden's killing.
 
 The minister said the 11 Chinese and six Americans were taken to safety by alert security personnel.
 
 "Nobody has been taken hostage," he said.
 
 Narrating the sequence of events, the minister said the attackers sneaked into the heavily guarded complex using two ladders and cutting the barbed wire fencing on the high compound walls.
 
 The attackers targeted P-3C Orion aircraft, two of which were destroyed. But acting quickly, Pakistan Rangers towed away some other Orion aircraft.
 
 Malik added: "Taliban is an enemy of Pakistan."
 
 Over 20 explosions shook the fortified facility soon after the terrorists had stormed in Sunday night. Four equally powerful blasts were also heard at the nearby air force base. Television footage showed thick smoke billowing from the area.
 
 Fierce gunfights raged through the night as reinforcements of security forces rushed to the base.
 
 The Pakistani Taliban, which is opposed to Islamabad's pro-US policies, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, Xinhua said.
 
 Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack.
 
 Pakistan has been witnessing a series of terror attacks since Osama's killing. In the worst such strike, on May 13 Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up near a paramilitary training centre in Charsadda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing over 80 newly-trained personnel.
 
 Last week, a Saudi consulate official was gunned down in Karachi.
 
 Sunday night's siege was also the third militant attack on the navy in Karachi in a month.
 
 At least five people were killed and 18 injured in a bombing of a Pakistan Navy bus here April 28, two days after twin blasts blew up two naval buses killing four people.