ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces ended an hour-long attack on a luxury hotel in the southern city of Gwadar on Saturday night, killing all the attackers.
Four gunmen infiltrated the Pearl Continental Hotel after they shot dead a security guard. At the moment there were dozens of Chinese and Pakistanis at the hotel.
The Pakistani army said in a statement that the attack was quickly answered, stressing the evacuation of all the inmates in peace.
The attack was adopted by the so-called "Balochistan Liberation Army", and posted pictures of the four attackers killed in the clash. The organization is waging a rebellion to gain greater self-rule in Balochistan (southwestern Pakistan).
Immediately after the attack began, the evacuation of the hotel's guests on an isolated hill overlooking the Gwadar strategic port, which lies within the China-Pakistan economic corridor, began.
A statement issued by the Supreme Command of the Pakistani Armed Forces said that the hotel guests were safely evacuated, including forty Chinese and thirty Pakistanis. The military statement also said that special forces surrounded the attackers.
For hours, the security forces exchanged fire with the gunmen, ending the clashes with the killing of all the attackers. Security sources confirmed that the security forces had fully regained control of the hotel.
The attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar came three weeks after separatist militants targeted Pakistani naval and security forces, killing 14 of them after being removed from buses on board in the Baluchistan province on the border with Afghanistan and Iran.