Gunmen dressed as paramilitary police killed nine foreign tourists in an unprecedented attack in the Himalayas of northern Pakistan.

Gunmen dressed as paramilitary police killed nine foreign tourists in an unprecedented attack in the Himalayas of northern Pakistan.

The gunmen stormed into a base camp, killing Chinese and Ukrainian climbers in an area of the far-flung north not previously associated with violence or Islamist militancy.

Officials said five Ukrainians and a number of Chinese were killed. One Pakistani also died and one Chinese survivor has been recovered, the government said.

The climbers were staying at a first camp, around 4,200 feet, for Nanga Parbat, one of the highest mountains in the world, in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan.
"There were nine foreigners and one Pakistani. The incident took place around 10:00 pm (1700 GMT Saturday). They were mountaineers," Diamer police official Mohammed Naveed told AFP.

"Gunmen came and opened fire on them. It is confirmed that they have been killed," he said.

Five Ukrainians were among the dead, Ukraine's ambassador to Pakistan Vladimir Lakomov told AFP.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar told parliament that one Chinese survivor had been rescued.

The killings will jeopardize the only foreign tourism that remains in Pakistan -- that of mountaineers -- the few international tourists to still visit a country troubled by Al-Qaeda and Taliban violence.

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.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible.