At least 1 killed, several injured as militants attack hotel in SW Pakistan: officials

At least one security guard was killed and several people were injured when three to four gunmen stormed a five-star hotel in the Gwadar district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Saturday, several official reports suggested.

This picture taken on March 8, 2019 shows a general view of the five-star Zaver Pearl Continental hotel known as the Pearl Continental, located on a hill in the southwestern Pakistani city of Gwadar, where gunmen stormed the building. [File Photo: AFP]

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistani military's media wing, said in a statement that three terrorists attempted forced entry into Pearl-Continental Hotel in Gwadar, and were challenged by security guards who restrained them to a staircase.

Mir Zia Ullah Langau, Home Minister Balochistan, told local media that army and paramilitary troops were carrying out a joint operation against the militants.

Langau said that the security forces took timely action to evacuate most parts of the hotel. Some local media reports said that Navy helicopters were used to shift hotel guests to safer places.

Meanwhile, sharing initial reports with Xinhua on condition of anonymity, senior security sources from Gwadar said that four militants camouflaging as security personnel entered the hotel and engaged in a gun battle with the hotel's private and public security personnel, leaving three of them killed.

The killed people included two private security guards and a soldier, the sources added.

The militants were later cornered and killed at the 1st floor of the hotel by security forces, and a combing operation is going on which may take several hours to conclude, said the security sources.

They added that three people including two security personnel and a civilian were also injured in the shootout, and had been shifted to a nearby hospital.

The militants were using sophisticated weapons, and hurled hand grenades inside the hotel, the sources said.

Separatist group Balochistan Liberation Army's (BLA) Majeed Brigade faction confirmed the attack from an unverified Twitter account, warning to carry more attacks in the future.

The BLA also released a picture of four militants wearing army uniforms and carrying weapons, claiming that they killed themselves after carrying out the attack at the hotel.