4 killed as armed militants storm 5-star hotel in Pakistan's Gwadar port city: police
Karachi, May 11: Three heavily-armed militants on Saturday stormed a luxury hotel in Pakistan's port city of Gwadar in the restive Balochistan province, leading to a fierce gunbattle in which four persons including the attackers were killed, police said.
The armed men entered the upscale Pearl Continental (PC) Hotel and opened random firing, a senior police official said.
They shot dead a guard at the entrance, the army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
A shootout between the militants and the security forces broke out at the hotel as the anti-terrorism force, the Army and the Frontier Corps were called in, Gwadar Station House Officer (SHO) Aslam Bangulzai said.
Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langov said that all the three attackers were killed by the security forces.
He said that some of the guests in the hotel were also injured but their number was not immediately known.
The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the attack which it said was carried out by the militants linked with its Majeed Brigade group.
Locals said several gunshots were heard after the terrorists entered the luxury hotel.
Gwadar port is one of the focal points of the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with many Chinese workers from other provinces of Pakistan working at the port.
The hotel, frequented by business as well as leisure travellers, is located on the Koh-e-Batil hill, south of West Bay on Fish Harbour road in Gwadar.
All foreign and local guests staying at the hotel had been safely evacuated, Express Tribune quoted Balochistan Information Minister Zahoor Buledi as saying.
"At around 4:50 pm (local time) we got reports that there are two to there(three) [sic] armed men in PC Hotel," SHO Bangulzai said.
"Two to three gunmen had first fired at and then entered the hotel," Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohsin Hassan Butt said.
"A clearance operation was going on," a spokesman of the army said.
The provincial police chief further said that "the attackers may have come in a boat to launch the attack".
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani condemned "the terrorists attack" on PC Hotel, and instructed the authorities to "ensure the safety of all inside the hotel", Dawn news reported.
He called for a "well planned and strong action against the terrorists", adding that he is "in touch with police and local administration" regarding the situation.
Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan's largest and poorest province, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.
On April 18, unidentified gunmen donning uniforms of paramilitary soldiers massacred at least 14 passengers, including Pakistan Navy personnel, after forcing them to disembark from buses on a highway in Balochistan.
China is investing heavily in Balochistan under the CPEC.
The CPEC, launched in 2015, is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China's resource-rich Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.
The BLA is one of the most-organised terrorist group of Baloch nationalists fighting against security forces. The group was also involved in the terrorist attack at the Chinese consulate in Karachi last year.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
