At least 7 dead in attack on Pakistan Stock Exchange

At least three security officers were killed and four gunmen also died in an attack Monday on Pakistan’s stock exchange building in downtown Karachi.

Multiple news sources indicated that a police officer and two security guards died in the attack, while all four gunmen were slain by responding security forces.

Reuters reported that the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a Pakistani-based group that has led terrorist attacks with the goal of independence for Pakistan’s Balochistan region, claimed credit for Monday’s assault.

One other security guard was reportedly in critical condition after the attack. Information on any other wounded was not immediately available.

Workers inside the building barricaded themselves inside the facility, which is also the headquarters for several major banks in the country, Reuters reported.

“Everyone was terrified and we locked our rooms and people started watching from the windows,” one worker told U.K.-based newspaper The Times.

Supplies located on the slain gunmen indicated that the four planned for a longer siege once inside the facility, a police source told The Associated Press.

The BLA most recently carried out a high-profile attack in 2018 when it struck the Chinese Consulate in Karachi, killing two.