At least ten people have died in an armed attack on the stock exchange in Pakistan’s financial metropolis Karachi. Four people attacked the building with firearms and grenades on Monday and were killed by security forces, Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabu Memom told Reuters. According to the police, four guards, a police officer and a civilian were also killed. The Edhi security service reported another fatality, and there were also seven injuries.
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The attackers came together in a vehicle in front of the stock exchange and threw a grenade at the building, said the police chief of the AFP news agency. Then they would have opened fire. Afterwards there were fights inside and outside the building. Videos of local media showed how security forces cleared the area around the stock exchange building. Shots and explosions could be heard again and again. According to reports, there were around 1,000 dealers and employees in the building at the time.
Police said security forces “seized modern automatic weapons and explosive materials from the terrorists”. So far, nobody has committed to the attack. However, the authorities blamed a militia from Baluchistan province for the attack.
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The port city of Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan and is considered the economic and financial center of the South Asian country. For a long time it was considered one of the focal points of crime and political violence in Pakistan. However, the situation had stabilized in recent years.
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