Pakistani paramilitary soldiers arrives to take position outside the Pakistan Air Force base after an attack by militants in Peshawar on September 18, 2015.

Militants in northwestern Pakistan attacked an air force base on the outskirts of Peshawar early Friday, triggering a shootout that left at least six of the attackers dead, the army said.

The assault on the Badaber air base came as the army has been carrying out a major military operation against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The attack by the militants also killed at least 16 people worshiping at a mosque, the army said.

Six of the attackers were killed and two soldiers wounded in the attack, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said.

He said the attackers stormed the guard room of the base, but the attack was quickly repulsed. Security forces were engaged in clearing up operations and were searching for militants who might be hiding in the area, he said.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Mohamad Khurasani, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement released to the media, he said they would provide details about the attackers shortly.

The Badaber air base, located on the edge of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was not functional and it was mostly being used as a residential place for the employees and officers of the air force. The base was established in 1960s.