Several people are dead after gunmen tried to storm the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
Armed with grenades and assault rifles, a group of separatist militia members began a gun battle that lasted almost an hour on Monday in Karachi as the police and paramilitary forces surrounded the exchange.
The four gunmen were killed, as were a police officer and two private security guards. The Balochistan Liberation Army, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The siege began at about 10 a.m. local time, shortly after the exchange opened at 9:30 a.m. The gunfire sent workers at the exchange into hiding as the firefight took place outside. The attackers were never able to make it inside the building.
Faisal Memon, an employee of a brokerage firm in the building, told the New York Times that fewer people were inside the exchange than normal given the coronavirus pandemic that has sickened more than 200,000 people there and killed at least 4,167 in the South Asian country.
“As soon as the firing started, we closed the doors of our office. It was terrifying,” he recounted. “Thank God that a smaller number of people are coming to the building these days because of coronavirus.”
The BLA, an ethnic Baluch group, has carried out other attacks in the past and advocates for the separation of the southwestern Balochistan region from Pakistan. Maj. Gen. Omer Ahmed Bokhari, the director-general of the Sindh Rangers paramilitary force, said that based on the discovery of food and ammunition found with the attackers indicates they planned a lengthy standoff or hostage situation if they would have been able to gain entrance into the building.
When contacted by the Washington Examiner, a spokesperson for the State Department condemned the attack and pointed out that the U.S. named the BLA a specially designated global terrorist in 2019.
“The United States strongly condemns today’s attack on the Karachi Stock Exchange. We stand with Pakistan in fighting terrorism and in ensuring the perpetrators face the full measure of justice,” the spokesperson said.
“These four attackers aimed to enter the building, and not only to kill but to create a hostage situation,” the major general said. He also pointed out that the location of the attack might have been symbolic for the BLA.
“The objective could be to hit the icon of Pakistan’s economy and economic activity,” he said.
