Gunmen killed six people, including four security guards, in an attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in the southern port city of Karachi on Monday morning, local police said.

All four assailants were killed after they entered the stock exchange from the main gate and were engaged by guards and law enforcement personnel, the police said.

The Baloch Liberation Army, an insurgent group seeking self-determination for people in the country's restive southwestern province of Balochistan, later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack occurred at around 10 a.m. at the bourse located in in a high security zone in the country's financial center.

Once inside the building, the gunmen started shooting outside the trading hall, a police official said. A local stockbroker said around 500 people were inside the building at the time.

Besides the four security guards, a police officer and a citizen were killed in the attack, a Karachi police spokesman said.

In an email sent to media, the insurgent group said, "Majeed brigade of Baloch Liberation Army today has carried out a self-sacrificing attack on Karachi stock exchange. Our fighters are inside the building."

The group previously mounted a deadly attack on the Chinese Consulate General in Karachi in November 2018.

==Kyodo

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