QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A police constable was killed and five people injured in Pakistan on Wednesday, following a gun battle with Taliban militants at a police housing and training complex, security officials said.

Three militants wearing suicide vests attempted to storm the complex in the restive southwestern province of Baluchistan when confronted by guards at the entrance.

“Police personnel deployed at the gate killed one of the suicide bombers,” senior police officer Abdul Rehman Luni told Reuters.

“The other two blew themselves up inside the police complex,” he said, adding that a senior constable was killed in the attack, and five wounded people were taken to hospital.

The attack was claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, in a statement sent to journalists.

Military cordoned off the area after the attack.

The walled complex comprises police residences and training facilities and is heavily guarded in a province where attacks on security officials are common.

Islamist militant groups and separatists fighting the central government are active in mineral-rich Baluchistan, with frequent attacks on gas and transport infrastructure and security posts.

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

In May, gunmen from the Balochistan Liberation Army insurgent group dressed as military officers stormed a luxury five-star hotel in Gwadar, killing three security guards, an employee, and a naval official in the ensuing gunbattle. </s> Six security officials have been killed in an attack in southwest Pakistan when their convoy came under heavy firing in a mountainous area near the border with Iran.

Pakistan's restive Balochistan province has been hit by a number of attacks on security personnel, but the number of large-scale incidents had decreased significantly since 2016.

The province's information minister Zahoor Ahmed Buledi told the Reuters news agency on Friday that six members of the Frontier Corps paramilitary force in charge of security in the region were killed in "heavy" firing along a mountainous stretch of road in the Kech district.

Fourteen others were wounded.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Baloch Raji Ajoie Sangar (BRAS), armed Baloch separatist groups, have both claimed responsibility for the attack, in statements emailed to Al Jazeera.

Restive province

Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, has often been at the centre of attacks by both religious armed groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban (also known as Pakistan Taliban), and armed ethnic Baloch separatists fighting for independence from Pakistan.

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Last month, three men from the separatist Baloch Liberation Army stormed the Chinese embassy in Pakistan's southern metropolis of Karachi, killing two policemen.

They were shot and killed by police before they could enter the complex with a car packed with explosives.

Despite its rich mineral and natural gas reserves, Balochistan remains Pakistan's poorest province and is the site of a long-running rebellion by separatists who argue the state is taking over their lands.

The separatists have also targeted Chinese-funded projects in the region.

In July, a suicide bomber detonated in the middle of a crowded election rally in the province, killing 128 people, including electoral candidate Siraj Raisani.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the blast. </s> Pakistani soldiers stand guard at the site of the court complex in the Charsadda district. Pic/AFP



Peshawar: Seven persons, including a lawyer, were killed and 20 others injured yesterday when Taliban suicide bombers stormed a court in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The attackers opened fire and threw grenades as they attempted to enter the sessions court premises in Tangi, prompting retaliatory fire by the security forces deployed there. Three attackers were killed in the police action. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Several terrorists attacked the court and resorted to heavy firing at the main gate of the lower court," police said. One bomber was killed in the firing at the gate and the second was killed as he entered the court. The third bomber died when he detonated his explosives.

"Seven people were killed and 20 others were injured during the attack," Sohail Khalid, district police chief Charsadda, said. Provincial government sources said one lawyer is among those killed. </s> Islamabad, Pakistan - At least 12 people have been killed and 14 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack near the provincial police chief's office in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, police officials told Al Jazeera.

The explosion on Friday morning struck a police checkpoint near a complex that is housing the Balochistan police chief's office, local police officer Muhammad Akbar said.

At least six police officers were among those killed, Ali Mardan, a senior police officer, told Al Jazeera.

Initial reports indicated a vehicle approached the checkpoint and explosives were set off when the driver of the vehicle was stopped by the police, provincial government spokesperson Anwar ul-Haq Kakar told local television channel Geo News.

"At 8:45am (03:45 GMT), there was an old car, a Toyota Corolla ... that came here near the [police chief's] office and it was stopped by the police personnel. That is when the blast took place," he said.

"There was no exchange of fire, but it's possible that law-enforcement personnel may have fired into the air."

Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent out its spokesperson Asad Mansoor.

Altaf Hussain, local police official, said: "Some of the wounded are still in critical condition. Most are police personnel, as well as a traffic warden."

"It was a suicide attack. They came to the intersection and then blew themselves up there," said Hussain.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the Inspector General's office was the likely target of the attack.

"The attack took place in the red zone, close to the IG's office as well as the State Bank of Pakistan," he said.

"Authorities are saying the IG's office could've been the target."

Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province, has seen frequent attacks targeting government buildings and security forces, as well as civilians.

In February, two bomb disposal squad members were killed and 11 others wounded in an explosion under Quetta's Saryab bridge, local media reported.

In August last year, at least 74 people were killed in a suicide attack on the city's Civil Hospital, while another 60 were killed in an attack on a police academy two months later.

Past attacks in the province have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, ISIL, as well as by Baloch separatist fighters who are fighting for independence from Pakistan.

The province has also seen a number of attacks carried out by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's Al Alami faction, a group with ties to ISIL, known for attacking Shia Muslims.

Targeting CPEC

The resource-rich province is central to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $56bn trade and infrastructure project that seeks to create a major trade route from southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through the Balochistan port of Gwadar.

Security in Balochistan has been a major concern for CPEC, with separatists regularly attacking workers building road and other projects associated with the corridor.

Earlier this month, two Chinese citizens were kidnapped and killed in the province.

Pakistan has established a Special Security Division comprising 15,000 troops to secure the CPEC corridor and projects associated with it.

The Pakistani government and military have repeatedly blamed neighbours India for fomenting instability in Balochistan, although officials have presented limited evidence to back this claim.

On Thursday, Kulbhashan Yadav, an Indian national who has been convicted and sentenced to death by a military court for funding and planning attacks in Balochistan for the Indian spy agency RAW, submitted a confession and mercy petition to Pakistan's army chief, the Pakistani military said. </s> Three suspected terrorists have stormed a police station in Pakistan's Balochistan Province, sparking a gun battle that killed an officer and the assailants, authorities say.

 

 District police chief Jawad Tariq says at least one police officer was also wounded in the June 26 attack in Loralai district.

 

 Tariq says two suicide bombers detonated their vests and a third assailant was killed by police shortly after coming under attack.

 

 In a brief statement, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility but gave no further details.

 

 Balochistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region's natural resources, such as gas and oil.

 

 Pakistani militants also have a presence in Balochistan bordering Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa </s> KARACHI, Pakistan: At least two Pakistani policemen were killed and a security guard wounded during an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi on Friday (Nov 23), a doctor told Reuters.

"We have two cops brought dead and security guard injured due to blast impact," said Seemin Jamali, a doctor at the Jinnah Hospital in Karachi.

Shortly after the attack, a separatist militant group from the Pakistani province of Balochistan claimed responsibility for it.

"We have carried out this attack and our action is continuing," the spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Army, Geand Baloch, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.



"There were three suicide attackers," he said. "They stormed the Chinese embassy in Karachi. China is exploiting our resources."



Geo TV reported one gunman was killed in the attack and a "suicide vest" had been recovered.

The Karachi police chief later confirmed that three suicide bombers were also killed in the attack, and the attackers were unable to get into the building.



"There were three attackers and all three have been killed ... They could not even get in the compound. They tried to get into the visa section," the police chief, Amir Shaikh, told reporters.



He added that the suicide bombers used an explosive-filled vehicle during the attack.

Up to four gunmen tried to enter the consulate but were intercepted by security guards at a checkpoint, senior local police official Javaid Alam Odho told AFP.



He added that the attackers "ran away" but did not confirm if the attack was over, saying the area had been cordoned off and security forces were conducting a clearing operation.

"Police and Rangers have reached the site," added senior police official Pir Muhammad Shah.

The Pakistani foreign ministry confirmed that all 21 Chinese staff inside the the attacked consulate are safe.

Pictures posted to social media purportedly of the attack showed smoke rising from the area.

Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.

A crackdown in the city by security forces in recent years has brought a lull in violence, but scattered attacks still take place.

China, one of Pakistan's closest allies, has poured billions into the South Asian country in recent years as part of a massive infrastructure project that seeks to connect its western province Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea.

The project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is one of the largest projects in Beijing's "One Belt One Road" initiative, comprising a network of roads and sea routes involving 65 countries.

But for Pakistan, participating in the project presents an enormous challenge in a country plagued by weak institutions, endemic corruption and a range of insurgencies in areas slated to host the corridor.

The subject of economic dividends from CPEC is extremely sensitive in some of the areas the corridor will run through - particularly in resource-rich Balochistan.

Since the beginning of the project militants have repeatedly attacked construction sites and targeted Chinese workers.

Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.

A crackdown in the city by security forces in recent years has brought a lull in violence, but scattered attacks still take place. </s> The Islamic State Saturday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 21 people and wounded more than 50 others in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province. A suicide bomber blew himself in the Hazarganj fruits and vegetable market in Quetta on Friday morning, in an attack believed to be targeting the minority Hazara Shia community.

The ISIS on Saturday released a photograph of the suicide attacker along with his name and said the attack targeted Shia Muslims, according to the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activities. “The Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (ISKP) claimed killing and wounding 70 Hazara Shias and Pakistani soldiers in a suicide bombing in Quetta,” it said.

The Pakistani officials have repeatedly denied presence of the ISIS in the country, but the Middle Eastern terror group has claimed a number of attacks in the past. On Friday, a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it collaborated with the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).

The LeJ is a Sunni militant group, which has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks against the minority Shia community in Pakistan, including the 2013 blasts in Quetta that killed over 200 Hazara Shias. </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. </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 traveling 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 Pakistan three suicide bombers attempted to storm a police housing complex in the southern Balochistan province. One of them was killed by guards, while the two others entered and blew themselves up, killing a senior constable and wounding five others. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility (Reuters)