Security forces killed at least seven militants on Wednesday as they tried to storm the offices of a Pakistan port considered a cornerstone of China’s investment in the nation, officials said.
Pakistan has for decades battled a simmering insurgency in southwestern Balochistan province, where separatists hostile to Islamabad have often targeted foreign investment projects.
Local official Saeed Ahmed Umrani told AFP seven militants had been killed in an attempt to “infiltrate” the compound of Balochistan’s Gwadar Port Authority.
Gwadar Port, which sits on the Arabian Sea, is managed by a Chinese firm and considered the crown jewel of Beijing’s investment in Pakistan under its gargantuan Belt and Road infrastructure project.
An army source who asked to remain anonymous also said seven militants had been killed, alongside four soldiers defending law-enforcement posts inside the compound.
“The terrorists attacked with grenades, rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs,” he said. “The area is cleared now.”
Chief minister of Balochistan province Sarfraz Bugti said on social media platform X that eight militants had been killed.
The attack was claimed by separatist group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) in an email statement, and spokesman Jeeyand Baloch said military intelligence offices had been targeted.
“The operation was launched at 3:30 pm (1030 GMT) and is still underway”, he said in a message sent early Wednesday evening.
Last August, the BLA also claimed an attack on a convoy carrying Chinese engineers to the port.
Ethnic Baloch separatists have long claimed their communities are not getting a fair share of wealth from the region, which sits atop huge reserves of natural resources.
They have frequently targeted Pakistani security forces protecting foreign investment projects.
China has inked over two trillion dollars in contracts around the world under its Belt and Road scheme, but projects in Pakistan have been plagued by security concerns.
In 2022, a BLA suicide bomber killed four people, including three Chinese language teachers, in Karachi city.
A year earlier, a bus carrying engineers to a construction site near a dam in northwestern Pakistan was hit by a bomb, killing 13 people including nine Chinese workers.
Islamabad has been accused of committing abductions and extrajudicial murder of Baloch citizens in retaliation for their campaign of separatism.
