Pakistani securityforces searched a luxury hotel in the port city of Gwadar on Sunday a day afterseparatist insurgents stormed in, killing at least five people, in what themilitants said was a strike against Chinese and other foreign investors.
Officials said atleast four gunmen raided the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel, but police onSunday declined to say if any of the attackers had been captured or killed.
Senior policeofficial Rao Munir Ahmed Zia told Reuters three of the hotel's four floors hadbeen cleared and security forces were searching the top floor some 20 hoursafter the attack began.
Intermittent firingcould still be heard from the hotel on Sunday afternoon, Gwadar resident AbdurRahim Baloch told Reuters.
The BalochistanLiberation Army insurgent group, which says it is fighting what it sees as theunfair exploitation of the province's natural resources, claimed responsibilitysaying in a statement the attack was aimed at "Chinese and other foreigninvestors".
The gunmen weredressed in army uniforms, officials said.
At least threesecurity guards and two hotel personnel were killed and four wounded as theattackers battled members of the security forces on Saturday evening. Soldierscornered the attackers in a staircase leading to the top floor, the militarysaid.
Balochistan, whichborders both Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistan's poorest province but hasabundant reserves of natural gas and various minerals
Separatists havefor decades been fighting the central government, bombing gas and transportinfrastructure and raiding security posts. Islamist militants from variousfactions also operate in the province.
Gwadar is astrategic port on the Arabian Sea that is being developed as part of the $60billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is itself part of China's Beltand Road infrastructure project.
The separatistshave denounced the development plans and vowed to block them while Pakistan haspromised China it would protect its investments and Chinese workers.
The PearlContinental Hotel, on a hillside near the port, is used by foreign guests,including Chinese project staff, but there were none in the building at thetime of the attack, officials said.
Prime MinisterImran Khan issued a statement condemning the attack.
"Suchattempts, especially in Balochistan are an effort to sabotage our economic projectsand prosperity," he said.
Security acrossmost of Pakistan has improved over recent years following a major crackdownafter the country's worst attack, when 148 people, most of them children, werekilled in an assault on a school in the western city of Peshawar in 2014.
But Balochistan,Pakistan's largest province, remains an exception and there have been severalattacks this year, with at least 14 people killed last month in an attack onbuses travelling between the southern city of Karachi and Gwadar.
