QUETTA: Militants attacked a naval airbase martyring at least one paramilitary soldier while security forces killed all five of the assailants in retaliatory fire, officials said on Tuesday. Monday’s attack on the Turbat base was the second assault by Baloch militants on a military facility in the past week.

“We escaped a huge loss,” said a statement from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office.

A Pakistan Navy spokesman said all five attackers were killed after they tried to break into the base. One paramilitary soldier was also martyred, said a military statement.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement.

The naval base is significant to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that also encompasses roads and energy projects and is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.