Five people dead, six injured in attack on luxury hotel in Pakistan
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 yesterday, as police confirmed all the attackers had been killed.
Five people, including a soldier, were killed on Saturday after gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in 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," Mr Khan said in a statement issued by his office.
The Chinese embassy in Islamabad also strongly condemned the incident.
Authorities said three gunmen had stormed the hotel.
During the attack, "5 individuals got Shaheed (martyred) including 4 hotel employees and a Pakistan Navy soldier," the military said in a statement.
One of the hotel staff killed was a security guard shot at the entrance. Six others were injured including four security service officers and two hotel staff members.
The military said all three terrorists had been killed.
Local police had earlier claimed there had been four attackers.
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. - AFP
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
