Six Killed in Militant Attack on Pakistan Naval Base, Say Officials

Monday's attack on the Turbat base in southwestern Pakistan was the second assault by ethnic Baloch militants on a military facility in the past week, Reuters reported.

"We escaped a huge loss," said a statement from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's office.

A Pakistan Navy spokesman said all five attackers were killed after they tried to break into the base.

One paramilitary soldier was also killed, said a military statement.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Baluchistan, claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement.

The BLA has previously been involved in attacks on Pakistani and Chinese interests in the region and elsewhere.

China has invested heavily in the mineral-rich southwestern province of Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, including developing the port of Gwadar, despite a decades-long separatist insurgency.

The naval base is significant to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that also encompasses roads and energy projects and is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative.

Pakistani security forces said last week they repulsed a gun and bomb attack by the BLA militants on a complex outside Gwadar, which in which two soldiers and all eight militants were killed.