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> 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> Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday condemned a deadly attack on a luxury hotel in the port city of Gwadar in the troubled Balochistan province, saying the terror strike was an effort to "sabotage" the country's economic projects and prosperity.

Three heavily-armed militants on Saturday stormed the Pearl Continental (PC) Hotel in Gwadar and opened random firing, killing a guard. All the three attackers were killed by the security forces.

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

While condemning the attack, Khan appreciated the initial response by security guard and security forces in foiling greater loss to human lives.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the attack.

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. China is investing heavily in Balochistan under the CPEC.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan also condemned the attack on the hotel and expressed condolences to the families of the security guard who was killed and two security men who were injured.

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 were safely evacuated.

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" and instructed the authorities to "ensure the safety of all inside the hotel".

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.

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> Islamabad, Pakistan - At least five people have been killed in a gun and bomb attack on a coal mine in southwestern Pakistan, officials say, the latest in an uptick of violence by ethnic Baloch separatists.

Two miners, two security personnel and a driver were among the dead after armed attackers stormed a coal mine on Thursday in Harnai district, about 70km east of the provincial capital of Quetta, deputy commissioner Azeem Dummar said.

"First unidentified armed men opened fire on two labourers working in [the coal mine], killing both on the spot," Dummar said.

As the security forces responded to the attack, a vehicle belonging to the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) that was rushing to the scene was hit by a landmine explosion about a kilometre away from the coal mine, said Dummar. One FC soldier was wounded in the attack, he said.

Hours later, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an armed separatist group based in Balochistan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We want to make it clear to the local spies and death squad groups of Pakistan army that they will not be forgiven for their crimes," said Jeehand Baloch, a BLA spokesperson, in an emailed statement.

Baloch independence

The BLA and other armed groups have been fighting Pakistani security forces for more than a decade, demanding independence for the ethnic Baloch areas of Balochistan province, which they claim has been neglected by the Pakistani state and exploited for its mineral resources.

Balochistan, located in southwestern Pakistan, is the country's largest but least populated province, with rich deposits of natural gas, coal, metals and minerals.

Rights groups allege that Pakistani security forces have abducted hundreds of pro-freedom Baloch political activists and fighters in their fight to quell the rebellion.

The province is also the site of a major port, which is the culmination of the $60bn China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major infrastructure and transportation investment by China in the South Asian nation.

The CPEC trade corridor will terminate at the Gwadar seaport, giving goods from southwestern China access to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.

"Pakistan army along with several other companies is plundering Baloch national wealth," said BLA spokesperson Baloch. "Balochistan is a war-torn region and we will not allow any investments until the independence of Balochistan."

The attack on Thursday was the latest violence targeting security forces this year, as attacks by the BLA and its allies have ramped up.

Last month, Baloch separatist gunmen stopped a bus in southern Balochistan and killed 14 passengers.

The Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), an alliance of the BLA, Baloch Liberation Front and Baloch Republican Guard, claimed responsibility for that attack.

Follow Asad Hashim on Twitter: @AsadHashim

Additional reporting by Saadullah Akhtar in Quetta </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> Attack was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, which has been fighting for an independent homeland for the Baloch.

Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on construction workers, killing 10 in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said Saturday.

Mineral-rich Balochistan has been plagued for decades by a separatist uprising and sectarian killings. Gunmen have previously targeted labourers seen as outsiders in the region.

"Two gunmen riding on motorbikes opened fire on a group of construction workers in Peshukan Ganz neighbourhood of Gwadar," local administration official Munir Zamari told AFP news agency.

The attack has been claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an armed separatist group that has been fighting for an independent homeland for the ethnic Baloch.

"They were FWO [the military's construction arm] workers, working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor," Shahshan Baloch, a BLA spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

 

The attack was carried out by four BLA fighters on motorcycles, said Baloch.

READ MORE: Does the China-Pakistan economic corridor worry India?

Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

 

The BLA is among a number of armed groups that have been fighting the Pakistani state for about a decade, targeting security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan's deep sea port of Gwadar. </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> Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on construction workers, killing 10 in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said Saturday.

Mineral-rich Balochistan has been plagued for decades by a separatist uprising and sectarian killings. Gunmen have previously targeted labourers seen as outsiders in the region.

"Two gunmen riding on motorbikes opened fire on a group of construction workers in Peshukan Ganz neighbourhood of Gwadar," local administration official Munir Zamari told AFP news agency.

The attack has been claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an armed separatist group that has been fighting for an independent homeland for the ethnic Baloch.

"We accept responsibility for the Gwadar attack," BLA spokesperson Jeander Baloch said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera.

"This conspiratorial plan [CPEC] is not acceptable to the Baloch people under any circumstances. Baloch independence movements have made it clear several times that they will not abandon their people's future in the name of development projects or even democracy."

READ MORE: Does the China-Pakistan economic corridor worry India?

Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, but its seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.



The BLA is among a number of armed groups that have been fighting the Pakistani state for about a decade, targeting security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

The push includes starting work on a massive Chinese infrastructure project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which gives Beijing a route to the Arabian Sea through Balochistan's deep sea port of Gwadar. </s> At least six Frontier Corps personnel killed, 14 others wounded in assault claimed by Baloch Liberation Army

At least six paramilitary troops were killed on Friday when their convoy came under attack by unidentified gunmen in Balochistan province, officials said.

The incident took place in the far-flung mountainous Kech district where soldiers from the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) were on a routine patrol.

“Six FC men embraced martyrdom while 14 others were wounded in the gun attack,” said Zahoor Buledi, provincial information minister.

A senior official from the FC confirmed the attack and told AFP that a search operation has been launched in the area.

A spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mineral-rich Balochistan province borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to ethnic, Islamist and political insurgencies. China is investing in the area under a $54-billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), upgrading infrastructure, power and transport links between its far-western Xinjiang region and Pakistan’s Gwadar port.

Thousands of paramilitary troops are deployed in troubled areas of the country to carry out security checks and to help police in maintaining law and order.

Violence in Pakistan has dropped significantly since the country’s deadliest-ever militant attack, an assault on a school in Peshawar in 2014 that killed more than 150 people, most of them children.
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.