Gunmen, security guard dead after Pakistan forces end hotel attack

ISLAMABAD-An hourslong gun battle between Pakistani security forces and gunmen who stormed a luxury hotel in the port of city of Gwadar has ended, with all the perpetrators killed, an official said late Saturday.

One security guard was killed in the attack on the five-star Pearl Continental hotel in Gwadar, a port city on the Arabian Sea in the state of Balochistan that is being used as part of a Chinese trade route to the Middle East and Europe.

"The attack is over. All the terrorists and a security guard were killed," provincial home minister Zia Langov said after the assault, which started at around 5 p.m.

All the guests at the hotel, which is frequented by Pakistani businessmen and foreigners, were evacuated shortly after the attack began, the military said in a statement.

A group of ethnic Baloch separatists claimed responsibility for the attack, their second in the region in less than a month.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which seeks secession for Pakistan's largest province, told dpa they sent four gunmen to the hotel.

The group, which was also behind a deadly attack on Karachi's Chinese consulate in November, said they had been targeting Chinese workers and Pakistani security forces.

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