Bloodbath at Pakistan Stock Exchange: Four gunmen are killed after shooting dead four security guards and a policeman as traders hid in their offices
- Four gunmen have been shot dead after attacking the Pakistan Stock Exchange
- Men arrived in a car before launching gun and grenade attack on the building
- Four security guards and a police officer were killed, with seven more wounded
- Traders told of panic as they ran for cover in offices and escaped out a back door
Four gunmen have been shot and killed after attacking the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, leaving four security guards and a police officer dead.
The attackers arrived in a car around 10am local time before using AK-47 rifles and grenades to attack the building, wounding another seven people, local media reported.
Traders scrambled for cover in their offices and were evacuated out a back entrance as the attackers fired at security guards before heavily armed police arrived.
Four gunmen have been shot dead after launching a gun and grenade attack on the Pakistani Stock Exchange which also left four security guards and a police officer dead
Officers said the gunmen began their attack in a car park before attempting to storm through the main entrance while firing at security
The men arrived in a car around 10am - wielding AK-47 rifles while carrying backpacks filled with extra ammunition and grenades
Officers told Geo TV that the attackers were wearing off-duty police uniforms and carrying backpacks that were filled with explosives and extra ammunition.
Rizwan Ahmend, a police official at the scene, said the gunmen were also carrying food - indicating they planned on a long siege.
Abid Ali Habib, Director Pakistan Stock Exchange, said the attack began in a car park, with the men firing indiscriminately at the building.
They then made their way to the main entrance, where they exchanged fire with security guards.
Video taken from across the street shows a car parked close to the entrance while two men take cover behind concrete pillars and fire shots using rifles.
What appears to be a dead body can be seen laying in the street.
The attackers then made their way inside the high-walled compound surrounding the stock exchange.
More footage taken some time later then showed Pakistani police and paramilitaries storming through the same entrance, where two bodies could be seen.
The attackers exchanged gunfire with security guards at the main gates before moving inside the walled compound where the exchange is located
Heavily armed police and paramilitaries (pictured) arrived on the scene and shot all four of the attackers dead before they could get inside the exchange
Pakistani Rangers (pictured) conduct searches of all buildings inside the compound, which contains the offices of several major banks as well as the stock exchange
It is not clear if the bodies were of the attackers, or security guards killed during the assault.
More gunfire then took place inside the compound, with blood pictured on a stairwell on the outside of one of the buildings.
Police later said the blood was from a security guard, not an attacker.
All of the attackers were killed before they could enter any of the buildings inside the compound, which includes the headquarters of financial companies.
No militant group has so-far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Inside the stock exchange, broker Yaqub Memon says he and others were huddled inside their offices, before police entered and evacuated them.
The main building of the Pakistan Stock Exchange is seen inside the walled compound where it is located, in Karachi's main financial district
Security personnel surround the Stock Exchange Building after it was attacked
Bosses said the exchange is usually staffed by up to 8,000 people, though that number is currently lower than usual due to coronavirus social distancing.
They could not give an exact figure of people in the building when the attack took place.
It is located in the heart of the city's financial district, alongside the headquarters of several national and international financial institutions.
The Karachi stock exchange is Pakistan’s largest and oldest stock exchange, incorporated today with the exchanges in Islamabad and Lahore.
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