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12:20
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan "strongly condemned" the attack on the Chinese consulate in the southern port city of Karachi, during which two police officers and three attackers were killed.
Khan issued a statement in which he ordered the opening of an investigation into Friday's attack. He described the aggression as part of a conspiracy against economic and strategic cooperation between Pakistan and China.
Pakistani separatists from the southwestern province of Baluchistan have claimed responsibility for the consulate attack.
Khan promised in his statement that such incidents could never undermine Pakistan's relations with China, which are "more powerful than the Himalayas and deeper than the Sea of Arabia".
Khan praised the Karachi police and paramilitary ranger forces, saying that they had shown exceptional courage to defend the consulate and that the "nation pays tribute to the martyrs ".
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11:50
Pakistan's foreign minister said the Pakistani security forces thwarted terrorists' attempt to spread terror by attacking the Chinese consulate in the southern port city of Karachi.
Shah Mahmood Quershi called Friday's attack a "conspiracy" against Pakistan and China, his ally and long-time friend. He blamed the attack on "the enemy of Pakistan".
He told reporters in Islamabad, the capital, that all the diplomats and Chinese personnel had been taken to a "safe place" as a result of the attack.
He says that he is in contact with them and that he will phone his Chinese counterpart to inform him in detail of "the successful operation in which the Pakistani security forces sacrifice their lives for to thwart the plot ".
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10:35
Pakistani police said gunmen stormed the Chinese consulate in Karachi, a southern port city, causing an intense shootout in which two policemen were killed.
Smoke rises from the building as the shooting continues.
Mohammad Ashfaq, a local police chief, said more than two attackers stormed the consulate on Friday. He says security forces have surrounded the area. Local TV shows emit smoke rising from the building, which is also home to Chinese diplomats and other staff members.
The authorities claim that the attackers opened fire on the consulate guards, then managed to cross the main gate and enter the building.
Ashfaq said the security forces were trying to control the situation, but the shooting was continuing. Karachi, the capital of the southern province of Sindh, has a militant presence.
