Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) Armed attackers attempted to storm the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday morning, killing four people, authorities said.

Three attackers also were killed in the assault on the consulate in the city's high-security red zone, according to a Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman.

The Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility in a tweet that included a photo of three unidentified men and the message: "Karachi: Fidayeen of BLA attacked the Chinese embassy in Karachi."

"Fidayeen" is an Arabic term that loosely translates as "one who sacrifices himself."

In a statement released after the attack, the group said its objectives were "clear -- we will not tolerate any Chinese military expansionist endeavors on Baloch soil."

Read More </s> Karachi: Pakistani officials say three gunmen who stormed the Chinese consulate in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi are dead, after an intense shootout.

Two police officers are also dead.

Senior police official Ameer Ahmad Sheikh said all the Chinese diplomats and staff at the consulate were safe and were not harmed during the assault or the shootout on Friday.

The Baluch Liberation Army, a separatist group based in the south-western province of Baluchistan, claimed responsibility for the attack and released photos of the three attackers. </s> At least four militants have carried out a terror attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi

According to witnesses, the weapons were fired near the consulate in Clifton Block 4 around 9.30am local time (4.30am GMT). At least two policemen were shot dead in the attack and a security guard was wounded. Local media reported that the injured had reached Jinnah hospital.

EXPLOSION and GUNFIRE at Karachi Chinese consulate as 'te...

It is not yet clear whether Chinese officials were harmed but Karachi police chief Amir Shaikh confirmed the attackers were not able to get inside the consulate.

Mr Sheikh said: “They tried to enter the visa section but did not succeed.”

Pakistan's insurgent separatist militant group Balochistan has claimed responsibility for the attack and asserted that their action “is continuing”.

The spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Army, Geand Baloch, told Reuters: “There were three suicide attackers. </s> KARACHI, Pakistan: At least two Pakistani policemen were killed and a security guard wounded during an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi on Friday (Nov 23), a doctor told Reuters.

"We have two cops brought dead and security guard injured due to blast impact," said Seemin Jamali, a doctor at the Jinnah Hospital in Karachi.

Shortly after the attack, a separatist militant group from the Pakistani province of Balochistan claimed responsibility for it.

"We have carried out this attack and our action is continuing," the spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Army, Geand Baloch, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.



"There were three suicide attackers," he said. "They stormed the Chinese embassy in Karachi. China is exploiting our resources."



Geo TV reported one gunman was killed in the attack and a "suicide vest" had been recovered.

The Karachi police chief later confirmed that three suicide bombers were also killed in the attack, and the attackers were unable to get into the building.



"There were three attackers and all three have been killed ... They could not even get in the compound. They tried to get into the visa section," the police chief, Amir Shaikh, told reporters.



He added that the suicide bombers used an explosive-filled vehicle during the attack.

Up to four gunmen tried to enter the consulate but were intercepted by security guards at a checkpoint, senior local police official Javaid Alam Odho told AFP.



He added that the attackers "ran away" but did not confirm if the attack was over, saying the area had been cordoned off and security forces were conducting a clearing operation.

"Police and Rangers have reached the site," added senior police official Pir Muhammad Shah.

The Pakistani foreign ministry confirmed that all 21 Chinese staff inside the the attacked consulate are safe.

Pictures posted to social media purportedly of the attack showed smoke rising from the area.

Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.

A crackdown in the city by security forces in recent years has brought a lull in violence, but scattered attacks still take place.

China, one of Pakistan's closest allies, has poured billions into the South Asian country in recent years as part of a massive infrastructure project that seeks to connect its western province Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea.

The project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is one of the largest projects in Beijing's "One Belt One Road" initiative, comprising a network of roads and sea routes involving 65 countries.

But for Pakistan, participating in the project presents an enormous challenge in a country plagued by weak institutions, endemic corruption and a range of insurgencies in areas slated to host the corridor.

The subject of economic dividends from CPEC is extremely sensitive in some of the areas the corridor will run through - particularly in resource-rich Balochistan.

Since the beginning of the project militants have repeatedly attacked construction sites and targeted Chinese workers.

Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.

A crackdown in the city by security forces in recent years has brought a lull in violence, but scattered attacks still take place. </s> Updated at 9:57 a.m. ET

Separatist militants armed with guns and a suicide vest tried to storm the Chinese consulate in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on Friday, in one of the most serious attacks in years against Chinese nationals in the Islamic state. No Chinese nationals or consulate staff were harmed.

At least seven people were killed as police clashed with the militants: three militants, two policemen and a father and son, Pakistani nationals, who were apparently at the consulate to pick up visas, The Associated Press said.

But none of the 21 Chinese nationals inside the large compound in Karachi were hurt, according to the Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. He told local reporters that Chinese diplomats and staff members were taken to a secure location following the attack.

The attack on the consulate comes at a delicate time for relations between Pakistan and China. Islamabad is hoping to secure billions of dollars in loans from Beijing to shore up its precarious economy.

In an apparently unrelated attack that occurred hours after the assault on the consulate, a bomb blast targeted a Shiite community in Pakistan's remote northwest province, killing at least 31 people.

The two incidents underscore Pakistan's ongoing instability, even as much of the country is now considered safe after years of militant attacks primarily targeting its cities.

At a daily news briefing in Beijing, China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang strongly condemned the attack on the consulate but said the militants did not enter the compound.

Video from the scene showed smoke billowing from the area as the sound of explosions echoed through the upscale neighborhood.

One video posted on social media appeared to have been made by a Pakistani man who was inside the consulate for a visa application at the time of the attack. In it, he narrates the events unfolding in real time. "You might also hear the shots," he says in Urdu to the sound of a sharp blast. "We don't know what's happening outside."

The attack ended shortly after it began on Friday morning, and later video showed paramilitary forces and police rushing to cordon off the area.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan suggested the attack was "part of conspiracy against Pak and China economic and strategic cooperation," according to a statement issued by Khan's office.

"The prime minister has ordered a complete inquiry into the incident and has desired that elements behind this incident must be unearthed," the statement said.

The incident represents a troubling strike against the Chinese community in Pakistan, which numbers tens of thousands of nationals. Many of them are linked to the sprawling China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, known as CPEC. It is a multi-billion dollar series of Chinese investments in Pakistan's infrastructure and energy projects.

Following the attack, the Chinese embassy in Islamabad said in a statement that it believed Pakistan was still able to secure China's interests in the country.

"The Pakistani side is able to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan," it said. "Any attempt to undermine the China-Pakistan relationship is doomed to fail."

A group calling itself the Balochistan Liberation Army, which has carried out several attacks in the past decade, claimed responsibility. The group said it was protesting "Chinese occupation" according to the AP.

There has long been resentment in Balochistan against Chinese investments in the province, particularly those that pertain to the development of the port of Gwadar. Resident there allege that the Chinese-led expansion of the port has stripped Baloch fishermen of their livelihoods, pushed them out of the homes and siphoned off their water supply. They also allege that Pakistani forces more harshly targeted their separatists, even peaceful activists, under the pretext of protecting Chinese assets in the area.

It was the most serious incident since August, when a suicide bomber rammed into a bus transporting Chinese workers to a mining project in Balochistan. Three people were wounded. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for that attack.

And in February, a Chinese national who worked for a shipping firm in Karachi was shot dead in an attack. It was unclear if the assailants in that incident were linked to militant groups.

Friday's attack came weeks after Khan, the prime minister, visited China in a bid to secure more loans to help save Pakistan's economy from unraveling. The country is currently facing a foreign currency shortage and has also sought assistance from Saudi Arabia as well as a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

"The attack was intended to scare Chinese investors and undermine CPEC," Khan tweeted. "These terrorists will not succeed."

In Pakistan's northwest meanwhile, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast that struck a crowded vegetable market in the largely Shiite town of Hangu. But targeting Shiites suggested that it was carried out by Sunni militants who have been known to frequently target the country's minority Shiite community.

The explosion killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more, according to Khalid Iqbal, the district deputy commissioner. </s> The attack was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic insurgent group who opposes China's exploitation of natural resources in southwest Pakistan.

It is the most prominent attack against neighbor and ally China, which is pouring billions of dollars into the country as part of its vast Belt and Road initiative.

China "strongly condemned" the attack and asked Pakistan to take measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions in the country, as well as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) mega-project.

In another incident on Friday, at least 25 people were killed in a bomb attack in north-west Pakistan.

The blast outside the consulate occurred in a mostly Shia neighbourhood in Orakzai district.

Police say three gunmen tried to enter the building in the southern port city, but were intercepted by guards at a checkpoint, Karachi police chief Ameer Sheikh told AFP news agency.

"They were holding Kalashnikovs. First, they hurled a small (grenade) and then started firing," said Allah Bakhsh, a guard at a nearby house who witnessed the attack.

Police officials said two of their personnel were killed, along with a father and son from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, who were seeking Chinese visas and were caught in the crossfire.

At least one of the attackers was wearing a suicide vest which did not detonate, another senior police official said.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad that "all the terrorists have been eliminated", and that all 21 staff at the consulate during the attack had been taken to a safe location.

"Situation under control," the military's media wing added in a statement.

The attack was claimed by a separatist militant group from Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, which is at the centre of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the major Chinese project in the country.

"We have been seeing the Chinese as an oppressor, along with Pakistani forces," the spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Geand Baloch, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location, adding they were "destroying the future of Balochistan".

The BLA later emailed a statement to media in which it said the attack was "aimed at making it clear that China's military expansionism on Baloch soil will not be tolerated".

It warned the Chinese to leave or "be prepared for continued attacks".

The group is just one of the militant outfits operating in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and poorest province, which is rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.

Residents of the resource-rich province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, have long complained that it does not receive a fair share of the profits made from its mineral wealth.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said Friday's attack would not undermine the Pakistan-China relationship, which he described in a statement as "mightier than Himalayas and deeper than Arabian Sea".

China, one of Pakistan's closest allies, has poured billions into the South Asian country in recent years as part of CPEC, a massive infrastructure project that seeks to connect its western province Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar in Balochistan.

The project is one of the largest in Beijing's "One Belt One Road" initiative, comprising a network of roads and sea routes involving 65 countries.

Pakistan sees the project as a "gamechanger", but it presents an enormous challenge in a country plagued by weak institutions, endemic corruption and a range of insurgencies in areas slated to host the corridor.

The subject of economic dividends from CPEC is extremely sensitive in some of those areas -- particularly in Balochistan.

Since the beginning of the project militants have repeatedly attacked construction sites, blowing up numerous gas pipelines and trains, and targeted Chinese workers.

In August this year three Chinese nationals were among six wounded in a suicide attack on a bus transporting Chinese engineers working in Balochistan, in an attack that was also claimed by the BLA.

The Pakistani military has been targeting insurgencies in the province since 2004, and has been repeatedly accused by international rights groups of abuses there.

Islamabad regularly accuses its eastern neighbour India of funding and arming Baloch separatists, and of targeting development projects in the province, particularly CPEC.

India's foreign ministry swiftly condemned Friday's attack in a statement, saying: "There can be no justification whatsoever for any act of terrorism". </s> At least two policemen were killed when unidentified gunmen stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Friday, officials said.

A separatist militant group from the Pakistani province of Balochistan has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Chinese consulate, its spokesman told AFP on Friday.

“We have carried out this attack and our action is continuing,” the spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Army, Geand Baloch, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The group is at the centre of a major Chinese investment project in the country.

The BLA is just one of the militant groups operating in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, which is rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.

Up to four gunmen tried to enter the consulate but were intercepted by security guards at a checkpoint, senior local police official Javaid Alam Odho told AFP.

An exchange of fire resulted “killing two of our constables and critically wounding another”, he said.

He added that the attackers “ran away” but did not confirm if the attack was over, saying the area had been cordoned off and security forces were conducting a clearing operation.

“Police and Rangers have reached the site,” added senior police official Pir Muhammad Shah.

Pictures posted on social media purportedly of the attack showed smoke rising from the area.

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.

A crackdown in the city by security forces in recent years has brought a lull in violence, but scattered attacks still take place.

China, one of Pakistan’s closest allies, has poured billions into the South Asian country in recent years as part of a massive infrastructure project that seeks to connect its western province Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea.

The project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is one of the largest projects in Beijing’s “One Belt One Road” initiative, comprising a network of roads and sea routes involving 65 countries.

But for Pakistan, participating in the project presents an enormous challenge in a country plagued by weak institutions, endemic corruption and a range of insurgencies in areas slated to host the corridor.

The subject of economic dividends from CPEC is extremely sensitive in some of the areas the corridor will run through -- particularly in resource-rich Balochistan.

Since the beginning of the project militants have repeatedly attacked construction sites and targeted Chinese workers.

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.

A crackdown in the city by security forces in recent years has brought a lull in violence, but scattered attacks still take place. </s> Dera Ismial Khan, Pakistan (Reuters) - A blast at a crowded market in a town in Pakistan’s northwest killed at least 8 people on Friday and wounded 20 others, a local government official said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast in the northwestern Orakzai district.

“Eight people have been killed and over 20 are injured. We are checking on further details,” local government official Mutahir Zeb told Reuters.

The blast occurred around the same time as three attackers attempted to storm the Chinese Consulate in the southern port city of Karachi in an unrelated incident in which two police officials were killed. The Karachi attack was claimed by the ethnic insurgent Baloch Liberation Army. </s> ISLAMABAD: An attack on a luxury hotel in the southwestern city of Gwadar was a bid to "sabotage prosperity", Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said Sunday, as police confirmed all the attackers had been killed.

At least one person was shot dead Saturday after gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in the southwestern Pakistani city of Gwadar, the centrepiece of a multi-billion dollar Chinese infrastructure project.

A Baloch separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter.

"Such attempts, especially in Balochistan, are an effort to sabotage our economic projects and prosperity. We shall not allow these agendas to succeed," Khan said in a statement issued by his office.

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad also strongly condemned the incident.

ALSO READ | Four killed as heavily-armed terrorists storm 5-star hotel in Pakistan's Gwadar

Local police said four gunmen who had stormed the hotel, shooting dead a security guard, had been killed overnight by security forces.

"All four terrorists were killed and security forces had taken complete control of the hotel building," a local police official in Gwadar told AFP via telephone.

His account was confirmed by a security source in Islamabad. The military had said on Saturday that there were three gunmen.

Mohammad Aslam, a police official in Gwadar, said Saturday that only staff were present in the building at the time of the attack.

The BLA is one of a myriad of insurgent groups fighting in tightly-guarded Balochistan province, which has been rocked by separatist, Islamist and sectarian violence for years.

The Pearl Continental, part of Pakistan's largest five-star hotel chain, is the only luxury hotel in Gwadar, frequented by foreign and Pakistani business delegations as well as diplomats.

It sits isolated on a ridge overlooking the Arabian Sea port city that was formerly a small fishing village, but now touted by officials as "the next Dubai" thanks to the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Part of China's Belt and Road initiative, CPEC seeks to connect the western Chinese province of Xinjiang with Gwadar, with the development of the port as the plan's flagship project.

Gwadar will provide China with safer and more direct access to the oil-rich Middle East than the waterway trade route it currently uses through the narrow Malacca Straits.

But it has also drawn its share of attacks -- particularly from separatists who have long complained that residents of Pakistan's poorest and largest province do not receive a fair share of profits from its resources.

The BLA has targeted Chinese workers in Pakistan multiple times, including during a brazen daylight attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi which killed four people in November last year.

At the time, the BLA branded Beijing "an oppressor".

Balochistan is tightly guarded by the Pakistani military, who have been targeting insurgents there since 2004. The army has been repeatedly accused by international rights groups of abuses there, but denies all allegations.

The attack was the second deadly attack in a prominent Pakistan city this week, after a suicide blast claimed by the Pakistani Taliban at one of the country's oldest and most popular Sufi shrines killed at least 12 people in the eastern city of Lahore. </s> At least six paramilitary troops were killed in southwestern Pakistan on December 14 when their convoy came under attack in a mountainous area near the border with Iran in the southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said.

Balochistan has been the theater of several attacks on security personnel recently, but the number of large-scale incidents has decreased significantly since 2016.

Six members of the Frontier Corps (FC) paramilitary force in charge of security in the region were killed in "heavy" firing along a mountainous stretch of road in the Kech district, the province's information minister, Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, said.

"Six FC men embraced martyrdom while 14 others were wounded in the gun attack," Buledi said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamist militants linked to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Islamic State have been operating in the mineral-rich province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. An indigenous ethnic Baloch insurgency is under way against the central government.

Last month, three men from the separatist Baloch Liberation Army stormed the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan's southern metropolis of Karachi, killing four people, including two police officers.

China is investing in the area under a $54 billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims at upgrading infrastructure, power, and transport links between its western Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar port.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
Four people are killed in an armed assault on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. Three attackers are also dead. The attack is claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army.