ISLAMABAD,Jan27,2012: Unknown assailants fired rockets on Pakistan's elite military academy on Friday morning, near the compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad where US special forces killed Osama bin Laden in May, 2011. Officials said that nine rockets were fired from behind a renowned Ilyasi Mosque at the hilltop overlooking Abbottabad city at around 3.30am. "Three rockets hit the wall of the Pakistan Military Academy and damaged it. Some exploded, some did not but there was no loss of life," said Khalid Khan Umerzai, the commissioner of Abbottabad division. Imtiaz Hussain Shah, a top local government official, said that police recovered nine rocket-launching pads from behind the mosque. "We have a security system and checkpoints on the roads, but the place they used as a launch pad is accessible from all sides and there are mountains at the back of this place," he said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack and the military said it had launched a search operation. "I don't know who could be involved because I don't remember any previous incident like this close to the academy," said Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the army spokesman. Abbottabad hill-station, about 40km north of the capital Islamabad, gained global attention in May, 2011 when US Navy Seals killed bin Laden there at his compound where he spent the last five years of his life comfortably and safely. Bin Laden's killing plunged American relations with Pakistan into turmoil. Aslam Awan, a senior external operations planner for al-Qaida killed in an American drone strike in North Waziristan on January 10, was also from Abbottabad. Some analysts believe that the attack may be linked to his death. Umar Patek, an Indonesian militant accused of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was arrested in Abbottabad by Pakistani authorities in January 2011. US government had offered a $1 million reward for Patek's capture.
