Pakistani militants kill 10 tourists including a Nepali guide in hotel shooting
Islamabad – Ten people including nine foreign trekkers and one Pakistani guide were shot dead by unknown gunmen in Pakistan’s northern area of Gilgit in the wee hours of Sunday morning.( June 23,2013)
The ten killed include five tourists from Ukraine, two from China , one from Russia and a Nepali guide .
Police said a 15-strong team of attackers wearing uniforms used by a local paramilitary force arrived at about 1 a.m. at a group of tents and ramshackle huts used by hikers scaling the flanks of the snow-covered 8,125-metre Nanga Parbat peak.
Most of the killed were tourists coming here to climb the mountain, police said, adding that the hotel, which is named Fairy Meadows, is located at a base camp of Nanga Parbat in the remote Diamir area of Gilgit,reports Xinhua.
The deceased Nepali national has been identified as Sona Sherpa of Solukhumbu. The mountain guide is said to be associated with Kathmandu-based Seven Summit Treks .
PTI adds -Taliban gunmen disguised as soldiers killed nine foreign tourists and a Pakistani guide in an unprecedented attack on a base camp in remote mountains of northern Pakistan, embarrassing the PML-N government just weeks after it assumed office.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif swiftly condemned the attack in an area of the far-flung north not previously associated with violence or Islamist militancy that plagues other parts of the country, AFP reports.
The Himalayas in northern Pakistan offer some of the most spectacular climbing in the world. Its peaks are a magnet for experienced mountaineers, often from Europe.
A statement from the prime minister’s office said 10 foreign tourists were killed in Ferry Meadows in Diamer, traditionally a base camp for Nanga Parbat.
“Such acts of cruelty and inhumanity would not be tolerated and every effort would be made to make Pakistan a safe place for tourists,” it quoted Sharif as saying. – Agencies
