Gunmen raided Pakistan's largest stock exchange, killing at least 3 people before police shot them dead, officials say

• Gunmen opened fire at the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday.
• Four assailants were killed, Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told Reuters.
• The attackers killed at least three people, police told the Associated Press (AP).
• Security forces have surrounded the building, which is being swept for explosive devices, the AP reported.
• The Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to CNN.

Gunmen opened fire at the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday, according to Reuters.

The assailants killed at least three people, including two guards and a policeman, according to the Associated Press (AP), citing police. All four gunmen were killed, Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told Reuters.

The attackers arrived in a silver Corolla car, police said. They were armed with grenades and automatic weapons when they stormed the building, according to officers.

Police official Rizwan Ahmend told the AP that the attackers had been carrying food supplies, suggesting they had been readying themselves for a long siege. They were instead killed by security forces.

Heavily armed special forces have surrounded the building, the AP said. Police spokesperson Shazia Jehan told the agency that the bomb disposal squad has also been called and is sweeping the building for explosive devices.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi, the largest in Pakistan, is the country's financial center. A statement on its official Twitter account said that the situation is unfolding, but that security forces and management were in control.

—PSX (@pakstockexgltd) June 29, 2020

Maj. Gen. Omar Ahmed Bukhari of the Pakistan Rangers Sindh paramilitary group, told CNN that the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The US State Department lists the BLA as a terror organization and describes it as an armed separatist group. The group seeks independence for Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least populated province.

According to the Times of London, the group put out a statement saying it had "carried out a self-sacrificing attack on Karachi stock exchange."