At least 10 people were killed and three others injured in an airbase attack early Thursday morning in Pakistan, reported local media.

Local Urdu TV channel Geo quoted unidentified army sources as saying that one I-L 78 cargo-transport plane bought from Ukraine was slightly damaged by rocket-propelled grenades fired by the militants from outside the airbase.

The 10 killed include nine militants and one solider, said the report, adding that three security personnel were also wounded in the attack.

One militant who was first wounded in the attack later died at hospital, said local media. Another militant killed right on the spot was found wearing a suicide jacket, said army sources.

At least three suspected militants were arrested and two landmines were detected during a search operation by the security forces in the nearby areas of the airbase following the attack which lasted more than three hours, local media reported.

All the militants involved in the attack were of foreign nationalities, said one local media report.

But a spokesman with Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said the identities of the militants are yet to be determined.

The spokesman had earlier confirmed eight deaths in the attack. The latest casualties reported by the local media regarding the airbase attack have not been confirmed by the army yet.

The army will hold a press conference later on Thursday and release the pictures of the militants killed in the attack, according to local media reports.

The attack took place at about 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning when a group of heavily armed militants dressed in military uniforms were stopped by security guards at a checkpost of the Kamra airbase in the country's northwest district of Attock, some 80 km northwest of the capital Islamabad.

The militants had successfully crossed over three checkposts before they were stopped at the fourth one, said the local media.

An intense exchange of fire between the militants and the security forces followed, said the PAF spokesman, adding that special commandos at the airbase were called in to reinforce the security guards who came under attack by the militants.

Huge smoke and fire were seen rising from the airbase following the gunfire and explosions, said local residents living near the airbase.

Paramilitary forces and police were also deployed outside the base to counter any second attack, said the PAF spokesman.

All the roads leading to the airbase have been closed after the attack, said local media, adding that emergency was declared in all hospitals in the nearby cities and high alert was announced in the capital Islamabad and its adjacent city of Rawalpindi.

An army spokesman said that the army had also joined the operation at the request of PAF.

Both Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Ashraf have issued statements strongly condemning the attack.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Thursday's attack on the Kamra airbase is the second of its kind by militants in the country over the past year or so. On May 22, 2011, a group of militants launched an attack on an airbase in the country's southern port city of Karachi, destroying at least one U.S.-made P-3C Orion plane, killing and wounding a dozen of security personnel.

Local media said some 30 army planes were in the Kamra airbase when it came under attack by the militants. Besides there is a jet fighter assembly line near the airbase, which produces the country 's most advanced JF-17 Thunders that are jointly developed by China and Pakistan.