Several dead in attack at Chinese consulate in Pakistan's Karachi

Al Jazeera ^ | 23 Nov 2018 | Asad Hashim

[Cronos]

Two police officers, three gunmen confirmed dead in attack claimed by the armed separatist group Baloch Liberation Army.

Armed gunmen have killed two policemen as they stormed the Chinese consulate in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, security officials say, in a raid claimed by ethnic Baloch separatists.

Security forces killed all three attackers and secured the building shortly after the raid was launched on Friday morning, Pakistan's military said in a statement.

No Chinese citizens or Pakistani civilians were killed, security officials said.

"All of our Chinese friends and officials who work at the consulate, 21 in total, all of them are safe and they have been shifted to a secure location," said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at a press conference.

"The area is now clear."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan denounced the attack as a "conspiracy" against China-Pakistan strategic cooperation, and has ordered an inquiry.

..In April, the BLA launched a suicide attack targeting a bus carrying Chinese engineers in Dalbandin, wounding at least six people.

Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and least populated province, will see a number of new roads and a port constructed under the $56bn China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an infrastructure and energy corridor that sees southwestern China linked to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.

[Cronos]

Not an islamic attack, but a Balochi independence movement attack

[DIRTYSECRET]

Interesting. Thought they were allies but the we’re allies of Pakistan. Trump is putting it straight.

[PAR35]

Are you suggesting that the Baloch aren’t Muzzis?

[drop 50 and fire for effect]

He is, correctly in my opinion, concluding that the attackers are not primarily motivated by Islamist ideology. They are separatists, who want independence from Pakistan.