By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistani security forces killed eight attackers on Wednesday after they stormed a government complex in the strategic port city of Gawadar in southwestern Balochistan province, police and local media reported.
The police said the heavily armed attackers tried to barge into the Gawadar Port Complex, which houses several buildings, but security forces foiled their attempt after the hours-long gun battle.
The attackers, police said, used hand grenades before opening fire on the security forces.
All eight attackers were killed, local broadcaster Geo News reported, citing unnamed security officials.
The Balochistan Liberation Army, an outlawed separatist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to local media. The group has long been involved in attacks on security forces in Pakistan's mineral-rich Balochistan, the country's largest but poorest province.
Security forces have long been facing a low-intensity rebellion by Baloch separatists, who claim the province had been “forcibly” incorporated into Pakistan, following the end of British colonial rule in United India in 1947.
The province is also a key route of the $64-billion CPEC project, which aims to connect China's strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to Balochistan’s Gawadar port through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines for cargo, oil, and gas transportation.
With its 600-kilometer (373-mile) coastline, Gwadar is an important deep seaport currently operated by China, which aims to attain direct access to the Indian Ocean via the seaport.
The economic corridor will not only provide China cheaper access to Africa and the Middle East but will also bring billions of dollars to Pakistan in the form of transit fees from the world’s second-largest economy.
But the separatists, who are said to be involved in kidnapping and murdering Chinese workers in the recent past, oppose the project, accusing Beijing of “stealing” resources.