Warnings were issued and after the death of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda attacked the naval base.

[11] A month prior to the attack on PN Naval Base Mehran, the Pakistan Navy was twice targeted for bombings in various locations of Karachi by unknown perpetrators.

The attack took place on the evening of 22 May at around 20:30 (17:30 GMT) when a 15-man TTP force stormed the three hangars housing aircraft at the Mehran naval aviation base.

[15] They used rocket-propelled grenades to damage and destroy several warplanes and premiere anti-submarine and marine surveillance aircraft—the US-made P-3C Orion.

The militants then entered nearby buildings and opened fire indiscriminately, killing several naval personnel, and afterwards carried their raid into the heart of the base.

[16][17] By the time SSG (N) arrived, the attackers had taken position on the roof of an adjacent two-storey building used by Pakistan Navy for pre- and post-flight briefings and debriefings.

[18] The third and final objective was issued by the Naval Intelligence, in which the SSG (N) were instructed to recover the bodies of militants to prevent further mutilation, in order to carry out the investigations.

A sniper on the rooftop began firing rounds at the SSG (N) teams, taking out men with the help of night-vision equipment.

[8] The Navy reported that the SSG (N) teams successfully evacuated 11 PLA Air Force technicians and six USN military advisers, along with securing the other aircraft from further damage.

[18] After achieving the first core objectives, the SSG (N) teams made a contact with four militants on the first floor who came to learn about the foreign advisers.

Reuters quoted the words of Ehsanullah Ehsan (the spokesperson of TTP) by telephone from an undisclosed location, "It was the revenge of martyrdom of Osama bin Laden.

Reuters quoted the words of Ehsanullah Ehsan, the spokesperson of TTP, by telephone from an undisclosed location, "It was the revenge of martyrdom of Osama bin Laden.

[21] On 25 May, senior Naval Intelligence officials told The News International that CIA contractors and anti-Pakistan lobbies had used al-Qaeda for carrying out the raid.

[21][22] Officials also asserted that an external force[s] was behind for such attack, and the main objective of such raid was to destroy the P3-C Orion aircraft.

Officials at Naval Intelligence also believed that a group of al-Qaeda and TTP had been trained in Afghanistan by an anti-Pakistan force to carry out such operations against the state.

According to the wife of Qari Faisal, a slain leader of the Punjabi Taliban, the group had provided the militants with food and logistical support.

[24] A senior officer of the Interior Ministry's Crisis Management Cell has said that the PNS Mehran attack has caused Pakistan a loss of 6.47 billion rupees.

[25] The differences found in the statements of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Chief of Naval Staff and the FIR lodged by the Navy have complicated the matter.

[25] Pakistan media reported on 23 May, that the both Naval Intelligence and Interior Minister Rehman Malik are deeply convinced that there was an internal hand that provided the deep information about the base.

[27] This was revealed when Naval Police arrested a former member of the Pakistan Marines for suspicious activities and aiding the Taliban militants.

[28] Simultaneously, Naval Police also apprehended Ahmed Shahzad from Karachi, and Riaz Chaudhry from Lahore.

Jang also reported that India has been concerned with the wave of terror incidents in Pakistan and has also put its military on high alert.

[9] GEO Television Director of News Intelligence Unit (NIU) Kamran Khan also criticised the Navy for not conducting proper investigations on previous attacks.

Khan said that the Naval Intelligence unit had failed to investigate the assailants behind the previous attacks, and therefore no security measures had been undertaken to protect its multibillion-dollar assets.

[37] Soon after the attack, Pakistani media began to air news that an Army SSG Division was going to carry out the operation.

This was contradicted by Commodore Irfanul Haque, spokesperson of Naval Inter Services Public Relations.

[18] As against the GHQ attack, where the Zarar Company of the SSG carried out the operation and 25 people, including two senior Army officials, were killed at the hands of eight terrorists in a gun battle that continued for around 20 hours, the naval SSG personnel managed the situation relatively easily.