Gunmen have killed at least four people in an attack on the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

Gunshots were heard at about 09:30 local time (04:30 GMT) outside the consulate in the upmarket Clifton area. Police shot dead three attackers.

Separatist militants who oppose Chinese investment projects in western Pakistan say they carried out the attack.

In another incident on Friday, at least 20 people were killed in a bomb attack in north-west Pakistan.

The blast occurred in a mostly Shia neighbourhood in Orakzai district. Police say a suicide bomber on a motorbike drove into a crowded marketplace.

Pakistan's Shia minority has often been targeted by Sunni extremists.

Three gunmen tried to enter the consulate but were stopped by security guards at a checkpoint, reports said. Two of those killed in the attack were police officers.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a blast, and local TV channels broadcast images of a plume of smoke. There is a heavy police presence in the area which has been cordoned off.

All the staff inside the consulate are safe, China said. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing called for extra measures to protect Chinese citizens in Pakistan.

"At the same time we mourn the deaths of the Pakistani police and think of their families at this time," a spokesman said.

BBC

BDST: 1543 HRS, NOV 23, 2018
SI