At least three heavily-armed militants on Saturday stormed a five-star hotel in Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar in the restive Balochistan province, leading to a shootout with security personnel, police said.
Additional police force, anti-terrorism force and army areall present at the Peal Continental (PC) Hotel to handle the situation, Dawnnews quoted Gwadar Station House Officer (SHO) Aslam Bangulzai as saying.
Three militants attempted a forced entry into the hotel. Aguard at the entrance challenged them after which the militants opened fire andkilled him, the army’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
A gunbattle between the militants and the navy and armysoldiers was underway, the police said.
The hotel, frequented by business as well as leisuretravellers, is located on the Koh-e-Batil hill, south of West Bay on FishHarbour road in Gwadar.
Frontier Corps personnel have cordoned off the hotel.
All foreign and local guests staying at the hotel have beensafely evacuated, Express Tribune quoted Balochistan Information MinisterZahoor Buledi as saying.
China is investing heavily in Balochistan under the USD 50billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“At around 4:50 pm (local time) we got reports thatthere are two to there armed men in PC Hotel,” SHO Bangulzai said.
So far, no group took responsibility of the attack.
“Two to three gunmen had first fired at and thenentered the hotel,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohsin Hassan Buttsaid, adding that “95 per cent of the hotel has been evacuated”.
“A clearance operation was going on,” a spokesmanof the army said.The provincial police chief further said that”the attackers may have come in a boat to launch the attack”.