Four insurgents armed with rifles and grenades have targeted a luxury hotel in Pakistan, triggering a lengthy shootout in which a security guard and the attackers were killed.

A military spokesman said the gunmen attacked the Pearl Continental hotel in Baluchistan but all the guests were safely evacuated.

The hotel guard was killed as the assailants opened fire with small arms.

A Baluch separatist group, the Baluch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility, saying its four fighters were involved.

In a statement, the group released pictures of the attackers, who authorities say were killed in the ensuing gun battle.

“All four of the terrorists have been killed,” said a senior security official.

The hotel is located near the port at Gwadar, which was built by Pakistan with China’s help in recent years. Gwadar lies about 435 miles south west of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

The region has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists who demand a greater share of the province’s natural gas and mineral resources.

The latest attack came weeks after Islamabad claimed that a group of militants crossed the border from neighbouring Iran and killed 14 security officials when they were on their way to Gwadar in buses.

Pakistan at the time blamed a Baluch separatist group, Raji Aajoi Sangar, for the killings. </s> KARACHI: Three heavily-armed militants on Saturday stormed a luxury hotel in Pakistan's port city of Gwadar in the restive Balochistan province, leading to a fierce gunbattle in which four persons including the attackers were killed, police said.The armed men entered the upscale Pearl Continental (PC) Hotel and opened random firing, a senior police official said.They shot dead a guard at the entrance, the army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.A shootout between the militants and the security forces broke out at the hotel as the anti-terrorism force, the Army and the Frontier Corps were called in, Gwadar Station House Officer (SHO) Aslam Bangulzai said.Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langov said that all the three attackers were killed by the security forces.He said that some of the guests in the hotel were also injured but their number was not immediately known.The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the attack which it said was carried out by the militants linked with its Majeed Brigade group.Locals said several gunshots were heard after the terrorists entered the luxury hotel.Gwadar port is one of the focal points of the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with many Chinese workers from other provinces of Pakistan working at the port.The hotel, frequented by business as well as leisure travellers, is located on the Koh-e-Batil hill, south of West Bay on Fish Harbour road in Gwadar.All foreign and local guests staying at the hotel had been safely evacuated, Express Tribune quoted Balochistan Information Minister Zahoor Buledi as saying."At around 4:50 pm (local time) we got reports that there are two to there armed men in PC Hotel," SHO Bangulzai said."Two to three gunmen had first fired at and then entered the hotel," Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohsin Hassan Butt said."A clearance operation was going on," a spokesman of the army said.The provincial police chief further said that "the attackers may have come in a boat to launch the attack".Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani condemned "the terrorists attack" on PC Hotel, and instructed the authorities to "ensure the safety of all inside the hotel", Dawn news reported.He called for a "well planned and strong action against the terrorists", adding that he is "in touch with police and local administration" regarding the situation.Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan's largest and poorest province, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.On April 18, unidentified gunmen donning uniforms of paramilitary soldiers massacred at least 14 passengers, including Pakistan Navy personnel, after forcing them to disembark from buses on a highway in Balochistan.China is investing heavily in Balochistan under the CPEC.The CPEC, launched in 2015, is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China's resource-rich Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.The BLA is one of the most-organised terrorist group of Baloch nationalists fighting against security forces. The group was also involved in the terrorist attack at the Chinese consulate in Karachi last year. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption The hotel sits on a hilltop overlooking the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea

Pakistan's army says gunmen who attacked a luxury hotel in Balochistan province on Saturday killed four hotel employees and a soldier.

The three attackers were also killed during a siege that lasted several hours. Six people were injured.

A spokesman for the Zaver Pearl-Continental Hotel in the port of Gwadar said there were few guests because of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army said it carried out the attack.

The group said that the hotel, the centrepiece of a multi-billion-dollar Chinese project, was selected in order to target Chinese and other investors. Militants in Balochistan oppose foreign investments, saying they do not benefit locals.

Who were the casualties?

The army's media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), says three hotel employees and a hotel security guard were killed by the gunmen.

A soldier of the Pakistan Navy, named as Abbas Khan, was also killed in the operation to clear the hotel.

Two army captains, two more navy soldiers and two hotel employees were injured in the attack.

What happened in the attack?

Three gunmen wearing military-style uniforms stormed the hotel at around 16:50 (11:50 GMT) on Saturday.

The security guard who died had confronted the attackers to try to stop them entering the hotel.

The attackers then moved to the upper floors with the intent of taking hotel guests hostage, the ISPR said.

As they moved up the stairs the other hotel employees were shot dead.

The ISPR said the attackers cut CCTV and planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to stop access to the fourth floor, where they were contained by the arriving security forces.

The attackers were killed in the corridor and the IEDs removed.

The military thanked the media for limiting reporting of the attack, saying it had denied the gunmen "possible live updates".

What has the reaction been?

Prime Minister Imran Khan said the attack had been an attempt to "sabotage prosperity" in Balochistan.

The hotel sits on a hilltop overlooking Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea, which is being developed by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a network of roads, railway and pipelines between the two countries.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said: "We appreciate the courageous steps taken by Pakistan Army and security agencies."

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan such attacks would "not deter us and Balochistan shall continue on its path to progress".

What is the situation in Balochistan?

Home to a long-running insurgency, Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest and least developed province.

It shares a large, porous border with Afghanistan and Iran.

Its economy is dominated by natural resources, particularly natural gas, and is being transformed by major Chinese infrastructure projects on the CPEC, part of the ambitious Belt and Road initiative.

Several militant groups operate in the region, including the Pakistani Taliban, the BLA and the Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. </s> Quetta: Three gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Pakistan's southwestern port city of Gwadar on Saturday, killing at least one guard and battling security forces inside, officials and the army said.

Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove said most guests had been evacuated from the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel, which helicopters circled as fighting was underway. He said there were reports of casualties, but did not give details.

The military said three gunmen killed a guard at the entrance to the hotel when they entered. Security forces had cordoned off the area and cornered the attackers in a staircase leading to the top floor, the military said in its statement.

Balochistan Liberation Army, a group fighting for greater autonomy in Pakistan's poorest province, claimed responsibility in an emailed statement. </s> May 11 (UPI) -- Gunmen killed at least one person Saturday after attacking a hotel in Gwadar, Pakistan, in response to Chinese presence in the region.

"Our fighters have carried out this attack on Chinese and other foreign investors who were staying in PC hotel," Jihand Baloch, a spokesperson for the Baloch Liberation Army, told Al Jazeera.

Zaver Pearl-Continental Gwadar is part of Pearl-Continental Hotels & Resorts, and is the largest chain of five-star hotels in Pakistan.

Gwadar is in southeast Pakistan, near the border with Iran.

Separatist group the Baloch Liberation Army, told officials that it sent four shooters to carry out the attack on Chinese workers and foreign investors at Zaver Pearl-Continental Gwadar.

All guests at the 114-room hotel safely escaped, according to military reports, although some reports dispute this claim, saying some guests were injured during the shooting.

Gwadar is home to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which connects southwestern China and the Arabian Sea.

For more than a decade, the BLA has been attacking Pakistani security forces in a fight for ethnic Baloch regions to gain independence in the Balochistan province. The BLA says the Pakistani government has exploited and plundered for its minerals.

This episode follows an attack Thursday where BLA gunmen killed five people at a coal mine in Balochistan, a district in Harnai.

In April, gunmen from a coalition of Baloch separatist groups killed at least 14 people on a bus traveling from Gwadar to Karachi. </s> ISLAMABAD: An attack on a luxury hotel in the southwestern city of Gwadar was a bid to "sabotage prosperity", Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said Sunday, as police confirmed all the attackers had been killed.

At least one person was shot dead Saturday after gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in the southwestern Pakistani city of Gwadar, the centrepiece of a multi-billion dollar Chinese infrastructure project.

A Baloch separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter.

"Such attempts, especially in Balochistan, are an effort to sabotage our economic projects and prosperity. We shall not allow these agendas to succeed," Khan said in a statement issued by his office.

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad also strongly condemned the incident.

ALSO READ | Four killed as heavily-armed terrorists storm 5-star hotel in Pakistan's Gwadar

Local police said four gunmen who had stormed the hotel, shooting dead a security guard, had been killed overnight by security forces.

"All four terrorists were killed and security forces had taken complete control of the hotel building," a local police official in Gwadar told AFP via telephone.

His account was confirmed by a security source in Islamabad. The military had said on Saturday that there were three gunmen.

Mohammad Aslam, a police official in Gwadar, said Saturday that only staff were present in the building at the time of the attack.

The BLA is one of a myriad of insurgent groups fighting in tightly-guarded Balochistan province, which has been rocked by separatist, Islamist and sectarian violence for years.

The Pearl Continental, part of Pakistan's largest five-star hotel chain, is the only luxury hotel in Gwadar, frequented by foreign and Pakistani business delegations as well as diplomats.

It sits isolated on a ridge overlooking the Arabian Sea port city that was formerly a small fishing village, but now touted by officials as "the next Dubai" thanks to the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Part of China's Belt and Road initiative, CPEC seeks to connect the western Chinese province of Xinjiang with Gwadar, with the development of the port as the plan's flagship project.

Gwadar will provide China with safer and more direct access to the oil-rich Middle East than the waterway trade route it currently uses through the narrow Malacca Straits.

But it has also drawn its share of attacks -- particularly from separatists who have long complained that residents of Pakistan's poorest and largest province do not receive a fair share of profits from its resources.

The BLA has targeted Chinese workers in Pakistan multiple times, including during a brazen daylight attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi which killed four people in November last year.

At the time, the BLA branded Beijing "an oppressor".

Balochistan is tightly guarded by the Pakistani military, who have been targeting insurgents there since 2004. The army has been repeatedly accused by international rights groups of abuses there, but denies all allegations.

The attack was the second deadly attack in a prominent Pakistan city this week, after a suicide blast claimed by the Pakistani Taliban at one of the country's oldest and most popular Sufi shrines killed at least 12 people in the eastern city of Lahore. </s> Pakistan's Army says the death toll has risen to five people in the attack by insurgents on a luxury hotel in the country's Southwestern coast.

Three gunmen stormed the Pearl Continental hotel in the city of Gwadar on Saturday, killing three staff members, a hotel security guard and a special forces soldier.

A further six people, including two soldiers, suffered injuries.

All three gunmen were killed after an eight-hour shootout with Pakistan security forces.

Forces also completed a widescale military operation to defuse explosive devices left behind by the attackers.

The country's military forces released a statement on Sunday clarifying that there were only three gunmen involved and not four as previously thought.

A Baloch separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility Saturday for the attack, releasing photos of the insurgents who it said took part.

Prime Minister Imran Khan called the attack an act of terrorism and praised the 'initial response by security guards and security forces' for preventing greater loss of life.

The Baloch Liberation Army have been waging armed struggle against the state of Pakistan since 2004 in a bid for self-determination for the Baloch people.

The Baloch are an ethnic minority group in Pakistan, with historical links to Persia, whose population is mostly located in the province of Balochistan.

Residents of Balochistan and other areas accuse the central government of favouring the country's Punjab province, home to some 60 percent of the country's 200 million people and most of the political elite.

Gwadar, where the attack took place, is within Balochistan.

Armed Baloch separatists carried out a dozen attacks last year against Chinese-linked projects in the past year.

Beijing is financing tens of billions of dollars' worth of megaprojects in Pakistan and is currently helping build a modern port in Gwadar, 600 kilometers (373 miles) west of Karachi. </s> Quetta, May 11 (IANS) Heavily-armed militants attacked the five-star Pearl Continental hotel in the port city of Gwadar in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Saturday.

Foreign and local guests were safely evacuated from the hotel, officials said.

According to Geo News, several gunshots were heard after at least three heavily-armed militants were believed to have entered the hotel.

An operation to neutralise the terrorists was underway, officials said.

The attack comes two days after at least five people were killed in a gun and bomb attack on a coal mine in the southwestern province which has been wracked by a long-running separatist insurgency. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Three gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Pakistan’s southwestern port city of Gwadar on Saturday, killing at least one guard and battling security forces inside, officials and the army said.

Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove said most guests had been evacuated from the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel, which helicopters circled as fighting was underway. He said there were reports of casualties, but did not give details.

The military said three gunmen killed a guard at the entrance to the hotel when they entered. Security forces had cordoned off the area and cornered the attackers in a staircase leading to the top floor, the military said in its statement

Balochistan Liberation Army, a group fighting for greater autonomy in Pakistan’s poorest province, claimed responsibility in an emailed statement.

Gwadar is a strategic port on the Arabian Sea that is being developed as part of the $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is itself part of China’s mammoth Belt and Road infrastructure project.

The hotel, located on a hillside near the port, is used by foreign guests, including Chinese project staff, but there were none in the building at the time of the attack, Langove said.

Pakistani officials have said the security forces were on alert for attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began in early May.

Security across most of Pakistan has improved over recent years following a major crackdown after the country’s worst attack, when some 150 people, most of them children, were killed in an attack on a school in the western city of Peshawar in 2014.

But Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province, remains an exception and there have been several attacks this year, with at least 14 people killed last month in an attack on buses travelling between the southern city of Karachi and Gwadar.

The province is rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies, with several militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban group Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army and the Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Saturday’s incident follows a bombing this week that targeted police outside a major Sufi shrine in Lahore, in the north of Pakistan, that killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 20, officials said.
In Gwadar, three insurgents attack a luxury hotel, as a result of the attack, four hotel employees, a soldier and all three attackers have been killed. The Baloch Liberation Army, an ethnic Baloch separatist group fighting for independence for Balochistan province, claimed responsibility for the attack saying that four fighters were involved.