PM Imran Khan blames India for Karachi stock exchange attack

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that he had "no doubt" that India was behind the terror attack on the stock exchange building in the southern port city of

Karachi

, an allegation that has been denied by New Delhi.

The attack, Khan said on the floor of the National Assembly, was an attempt to destabilise Pakistan. "What happened in Mumbai, they wanted to do the same in Karachi; they wanted to spread uncertainty. We have no doubt that this was done by India," he said while referring to the

2008 Mumbai attacks

.

Praising the four security personnel, including a police sub-inspector, who lost their lives in the exchange of fire with the attackers, Khan said, "They are heroes of Pakistan."

"They gave sacrifices and thwarted a major terror attack, which was planned by India to destabilise us," he said, adding that the attackers had a lot of ammunition and had prepared for a long siege.

"Me and my cabinet members know that all our law enforcement agencies are on high alert. They anticipated at least four major attempts of terrorism, and two of them were around Islamabad," Khan said. "We foiled a terror bid because we were fully prepared. This was a huge win for us," he said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange was stormed by four heavily armed attackers of the

Balochistan Liberation Army

(BLA), a separatist ethnic Baloch insurgent group, on Monday. All assailants were killed in a firefight.