Attack of Terrorists at Pakistan Stock Exchange, Karachi

Militants attacked the stock exchange in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday, killing at least three people — two guards and a policeman, according to police. Special police forces positioned to the part of the attack and in a rapid operation secured the building, killing all four gunmen.

There were no reports of any wounded among the dealers and employees inside the exchange and a nationalist militant group from a neighbouring province later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attackers were equipped with grenades and automatic rifles, police said. They launched the attack by opening fire at the entrance gate of the Pakistan Stock Exchange in the southern port city, the country’s financial centre.

Heavily armed special forces hurriedly bounded the building located in the heart of Karachi’s financial district, where the Pakistan State Bank is located, along with the headquarters of several national and international financial institutions.

Local television stations broadcast images of police in full body shield surrounding the building but still staying outside the high-walled compound of the stock exchange.

Rizwan Ahmend, a police official at the scene, said that after opening fire, the gunmen entered the stock exchange grounds. He said that after the attack was over, food supplies were found on the bodies of the gunmen, showing they may have planned a long obstruction, which police quickly dissatisfied.

Inside the stock exchange, broker Yaqub Memon told The Associated Press that he and others were come together inside their offices while the attack was ongoing. As the firing ended and the gunmen were killed, police gathered all the employees and brokers in a single room while security forces went floor by floor to ensure that no explosives had been left behind, he said.

Shazia Jehan, a police spokesman, said the bomb disposal team was also called to the stock exchange to clear the building of any explosive devises.

Later, the Baluchistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has been instigating an insurgency for years, demanding independence for Pakistan’s gas-rich southwestern Baluchistan province, which borders the southern Sindh province, where Karachi is the provincial capital.

The group also distributed to the media a photograph of four men in full body armor and cover-up outfits, saying they were the militants who attacked the stock exchange.

The Karachi stock exchange is Pakistan’s largest and oldest stock exchange, merged today with the exchanges in Islamabad and Lahore.

The Baluchistan Liberation Army, which Pakistan says has found safe across the border in Afghanistan, has carried out a series of attacks in Karachi in recent years, including an attack on the Chinese Consulate in November 2018 that killed two people.

The Arabian Sea port of Gwadar is located in Baluchistan, and is part of China’s multi-billion dollar one-road project connecting south and Central Asia to China. The Baluchistan militant group has opposed the one-road project including a highway connecting the Gwadar port to the Chinese border.

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