Reports say foreigners on mountain-climbing trip were shot dead at hotel in remote Gilgit-Baltistan
Gunmen stormed a hotel in a remote part of northern Pakistan on Sunday and killed a group of foreign tourists before fleeing, police and security officials said. Reports said nine people were killed.
"Unknown people entered a hotel where foreign tourists were staying last night and opened fire," Ali Sher, a senior police officer in Gilgit-Baltistan, told the Reuters news agency. The attack took place around 1am Sunday, he said.
The climbers from Russia, China and the Ukraine were killed before dawn on Sunday as they set off to climb Nanga Parbat in Gilgit-Baltistan, local police chief Barkat Ali told the Associated Press. Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest mountain in the world.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
A senior government official said a large number of security personnel had been sent to the area. "Since the area is very remote with no roads or transport, their bodies will have to be retrieved by helicopter," the official said.
Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders China and Kashmir, had been considered one of the more secure areas of Pakistan but has witnessed a spate of attacks by militants targeting members of Pakistan's Shia minority in recent years.
It was the first time foreign tourists had been attacked in the province, which is famous for its natural beauty.