Islamabad, Dec 11 (IANS): Pakistan's defence ministry Sunday took control of the Shamsi airbase as the US vacated the facility after the government ordered this following the NATO strikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last month, Geo News reported.

According to security sources, the officials of Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior were present at the Shamsi airbase, located in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

The decision on whether to hand over the airbase to UAE will be taken later on, the sources added.

"A cargo plane of the US Air Force arrived at the airbase today to take the US troops to their next destination," Dawn News quoted a senior Pakistan government official as saying Saturday night.

According to sources, about 20 US cargo planes landed at the airbase over the past week to shift sensitive equipment, vehicles and belongings of the US troops who had been using the base for the last 10 years.

Following the 9/11 terror strike in 2001 in the US, then president Pervez Musharraf had allowed the US to use two airbases in the province -- Dalbandin and Shamsi.