Pakistan oil facility attack halted

Burqa-clad assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades have attempted to attack an oil terminal in southern Pakistan but were thwarted by a security guard who was gunned down as the suspects escaped, officials said.

The three attackers, dressed in the all-encompassing garment traditionally worn by Muslim women, tried on Monday to enter the terminal in the port city of Karachi where oil supplies arrive for the country’s largest refinery, police said.

A security guard on duty intercepted them but was shot dead by the attackers.

A police vehicle patrolling nearby heard the gunshots and responded. The attackers managed to escape, but left behind 10 hand grenades, three Kalashnikov rifles and bullets stuffed in a woman’s handbag.

“It was a big attempt at terrorism averted by the police with the help of the brave guard,” city police chief Waseem Ahmed said.

Police later found rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, suicide vests, burqas and other items apparently dumped by the suspects near a sewer in the area, senior investigator Raja Umar Khattab said.

“The bullet cartridges and the burqas found today suggest they threw their weapons when on the run after their foiled attempt on the oil terminal,” Khattab told The Associated Press.

UKPA