Clearance operation concludes at PC Gwadar, three terrorists killed

RAWALPINDI: The five-star hotel, Pearl Continental (PC), has been cleared after a joint operation conducted by armed forces in port city of Gwadar, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement said on Sunday evening.

Three terrorists have been killed by military troops during the clearance operation and their dead bodies were taken into custody for identification.

An official of Pakistan Navy was martyred and four employees of the hotel have also lost their lives in the operation.

According to ISPR, two Pakistan Army captains, two soldiers of Pakistan Navy and two hotel workers sustained wounds in the terrorists’ attack.

The terrorists had entered the hotel with a plan to make the guests inside PC their hostage but were stopped by a security guard at the central gate, ISPR said.

The security guard was martyred, after a fire exchange. The terrorists later opened heavy fire at the central gate of the hotel which killed three hotel employees. The deceased were identified as Farhad, Bilawal and Owais.

“The teams of Quick Response forces (QRF) belonging to Pakistan Army, Navy and police arrived at the hotel immediately and initiated an operation after evacuating guests and hotel staff members to a safe location,” ISPR said.

Read More: Guests safely evacuated from Gwadar’s five star hotel: ISPR

Earlier on Saturday, three terrorists had stormed a five star hotel in Gwadar city of Balochistan province. A clearance operation by the security forces resulted in safe evacuation of all the guests in the establishment.

Fire was exchanged between security forces and the militants, whose number was put at three by the security officials. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the security forces cordoned-off the area and the terrorists were confined to one place and were killed. It also said a hotel security guard had embraced martyrdom during a clash between the hotel security and the terrorists.

Home Minister Balochistan Mir Ziaullah Lango said there were reports of some casualties, however, none of the injured were foreigners.