ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Shots were fired after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's plane took off from a military base on Friday in what one official described as a failed assassination attempt.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf salutes as he arrives to attend the 34th session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, Pakistan in this May 15, 2007, file photo. [AP]

"It was an unsuccessful effort by miscreants to target the president's plane," a senior security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the record. "They fled quickly, and our security agencies are still investigating."

Security forces quickly surrounded a house in Rawalpindi, a garrison city south of the capital. Three other officials told the AP that two anti-aircraft guns and a light machine gun were found on the rooftop.

The senior security official said Musharraf was aboard the plane at the time, although he insisted that the president was not within the range of the attackers' weapons.

Television footage from an overlooking building showed a large gun pointed skyward next to a satellite dish as security officials rushed around. It was unclear if the gun had been fired.

The house lies under the flight path of the main runway used by both the Chaklala Air Base and the adjoining Islamabad International Airport. Passenger jets thundered overhead as police and soldiers swarmed the area.