At least three security officers were killed and four gunmen were also killed in an attack on Monday against the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in central Karachi.
Multiple news sources indicated that a police officer and two security guards were killed in the attack, while the four gunmen were killed by the responding security forces.
Reuters reported that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a Pakistan-based group that has led terrorist attacks aimed at independence for Pakistan’s Balochistan region, claimed credit for Monday’s assault.
Another security guard was reportedly in critical condition after the attack. Information on any other wounded was not immediately available.
Workers inside the building locked themselves inside the facility, which is also the headquarters of several major banks in the country, according to the news service, Reuters reported.
“Everyone was terrified and we closed our rooms and people started looking out of the windows,” a worker told the British newspaper The Times.
Supplies located on the assassinated gunmen indicated that the four planned a longer siege once inside the facility, a police source told the Associated Press.
The BLA recently carried out a high-profile attack in 2018 when it hit the Chinese consulate in Karachi, killing two.
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