One of the groups stormed a mosque where base staff were offering early morning prayers, he said, adding that the attack left 16 worshipers dead.
Pakistani authorities blamed fighters from neighbouring Afghanistan for the attack on Badber military base on Friday that killed 29 people and was claimed by Pakistani Taliban.
Bajwa said the personnel of Quick Response Force, commandos and PAF guards surrounded and contained the attackers within 50 meters and prevented them from going further.
Six militants have been killed in an exchange of fire with security forces.
In Tweets on social media, Bajwa said the country’s powerful army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, rushed to Peshawar to meet with the security forces taking part in the clearing operation.
Friday’s attack, the first major incident in some time, comes as the army has been carrying out a major operation against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
In a press conference, he said that both from the Pakistan Air Force and the Pakistan Army men martyred in the Badaber attack – an airbase of the PAF. The last deadly attack on Peshawar was in February when three heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a Shia mosque, killing 21 people, according to The Austrailian.
One group of militants attacked worshippers inside a mosque, officials said.
“Around 5am, 13 to 14 militants entered the PAF base”.
A senior Pakistani military official said most of those in the mosque when it was attacked were working with the air force.
Hours after the attack, military spokesperson Asim Bajwa pointedly noted that communications intercepts showed the Taliban gunmen were being directed by handlers in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has long contended that counter-terrorist operations mounted by the Pakistani army have spared insurgents linked to the Afghan Taliban. It also the crossroad between the rest of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which has also been struggling to overcome the threat posed by Islamist militants. Fourteen of the attackers were killed, CNN reported.
The PM said the armed forces of the county have the full support from the entire nation and that networks of terrorists would soon be eliminated from Pakistan.