(CNN) — At least five people died after a firearm attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, rescue officials said Monday.
Police and security officials are among the confirmed dead, according to Mohammad Azeem, an official with the Edhi rescue center, a major local aid service.
Abid Ali, director of the Pakistan Stock Exchange, told reporters that four attackers entered the compound and started firing, but the situation was now under control.
“There were four attackers who came from the parking lot, threw a grenade at the KSE’s main entrance, and then started firing indiscriminately,” he said.
“The attackers were wearing uniforms that looked like they were from the police, all four were shot and the situation is currently under control.”
The Balochistan Liberation Army [BLA] has accepted responsibility for the attack, ”according to Maj. Gen. Omar Ahmed Bukhari, CEO of the Pakistan Rangers Sindh.
“We are investigating further, to find out who these people are,” Bukhari said after four armed men attempted to storm the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi on Monday morning.
The BLA has carried out a low-level separatist insurgency against targets in Pakistan for almost two decades.
The organization, which grew out of anger over the state’s perceived monopoly on the province’s mineral resources, previously killed and kidnapped Chinese engineers working in the province.
The BLA also admitted responsibility for the attack, saying that “the Balochies Liberation Army’s Majeed Brigade has carried out a self-sacrifice attack on the Karachi stock exchange. Our fighters are inside the building and have taken control of the area, ”said a BLA source.
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