Firing at Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, two attackers killed

Unidentified gunmen opened fire at the Gwadar Port Authority complex in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province. It said that two attackers were killed in retaliatory firing by security personnel. Gwadar’s deputy commissioner and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Gwadar is located near the Strait of Hormuz, an important oil shipping route in the Arabian Sea. The deepwater port is key to the billion-dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that also includes roads and energy projects and is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Despite decades of separatist insurgency in the region, China has invested heavily in mineral-rich Balochistan under its Belt and Road Initiative, including the development of Gwadar. Chinese targets have already been attacked by several terrorist groups in Pakistan. In August, gunmen attacked a convoy of Chinese workers in Gwadar and the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.