Baloch separatists storm China-Pakistan port
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Baloch separatists armed with guns and bombs attacked Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port, key to the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, on Wednesday. Eight terrorists were shot dead by security forces, a government official said.
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 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 by a gun attack. He said the army and police were responding to the attackers.
The official said he had received reports that seven of the attackers had been killed, adding that authorities were trying to confirm reports of a soldier’s death.
All eight gunmen who attacked Pakistan’s Gwadar port 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 neutralized by security forces,” Sarfraz Bugti said in a post on social media platform X.
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’s intelligence agencies’ offices.
The BLA has previously been involved in attacks on Pakistani and Chinese interests in the region and elsewhere.
Pakistan’s military and interior ministries
did not give any details on the attack.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) also encompasses roads and energy projects and is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Chinese targets have previously come under attack by militant groups in Pakistan. In August, gunmen attacked a convoy of Chinese workers in Gwadar, an operation also claimed by the BLA.