Militants stormed one of Pakistan’s biggest military bases in the country’s largest city late yesterday, triggering explosions and gunbattles three weeks after the US killing of Osama bin Laden.

At least 10 people were wounded as blasts and gunshots rang out at the sprawling base used by the Air Force and Navy in the centre of Karachi, where the local government confirmed that the base was under “terrorist attack”.

An AFP reporter saw scores of soldiers and navy commandos entering the base as reinforcements, where flames and smoke could be seen rising into the night sky. An AFP photographer heard seven blasts and periodic bursts of gunfire.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistan’s military has long been on the frontline of gun, suicide and bomb attacks blamed on the country’s main Taliban faction and other Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups.

The Taliban have also repeatedly threatened attacks against Western and Pakistani government targets to avenge the killing of bin Laden by US Navy SEALS in the garrison city of Abbottabad near the capital Islamabad on May 2.