All eight gunmen who attacked Pakistan’s Gwadar port on Wednesday have been killed, said the chief minister of Balochistan province, where the port is located.
“Eight terrorists tried to attack the Gwadar Port Authority complex today. All of them have been neutralised by security forces,” Sarfraz Bugti said in a post on social media platform X.
Baloch separatists armed with guns and bombs attacked Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port, key to the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
China has invested heavily in mineral-rich Balochistan, including developing Gwadar, despite a decades-long insurgency.
The militants stormed the complex in the rugged southwestern province which houses offices of different government departments, intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces, said Saeed Ahmed Umrani, a government commissioner.
“Attackers carried out many blasts,” he told Reuters, adding that it was followed with a gun attack.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement, saying its militants attacked Pakistan intelligence agencies’ offices.
The BLA has previously been involved in attacks on Pakistani and Chinese interests in the region and elsewhere.
