Security forces foiled on Wednesday an attack on the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) complex and killed the eight attackers, said sources.
Sources said the attackers belonged to the proscribed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and were neutralised while trying to gain entry into the port complex.
However, Commissioner Makran Division Saeed Ahmed Umrani confirmed the attack and said the attackers entered the Gwadar Port Authority.
A large contingent of security forces responded to the attack and foiled the attempt by the attackers to enter the complex, the sources maintained. While the operation was ongoing, the local police established a cordon around the area.
Earlier it was reported that a heavy exchange of fire was ongoing and multiple explosions were heard in the area.
In January, security forces successfully repulsed terrorist attacks in Balochistan’s Mach and Kolpur areas, killing more than a dozen BLA attackers.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, reported that multiple terrorists, including suicide bombers, launched attacks on Mach and Kolpur complexes in Balochistan.
Law enforcement agencies responded effectively, resulting in the neutralisation of at least nine terrorists.
Read 12 more terrorists neutralised in Mach clearance op
However, four courageous members of the security forces, engaged in fierce combat, sacrificed their lives, along with two innocent civilians, in the intense exchange of fire.
In November, two vehicles of the security forces moving from Pasni to Ormara in Gwadar district were ambushed by terrorists.
At least fourteen soldiers were martyred in the attack.
Balochistan has been in the grip of a bloody separatist insurgency since 2006 which has been exasperated by militant, sectarian, and ethnic violence over the years.
Civil and military officials have repeatedly claimed that “hostile agencies” have also been fuelling terrorism to destabilise Pakistan for their geopolitical interests.
The involvement of “hostile agencies” was confirmed in March 2016 when Pakistani intelligence agencies arrested Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving commander of the Indian Navy in the Mashkhel area of Balochistan after he crossed over from neighbouring Iran.
