In a widely reported incident, mountaineering in Pakistan's Western Karakoram and Himalaya suffered its worst setback since the effects of 9/11, when a group of terrorists massacred climbers at Nanga Parbat base camp.
Full details at this stage obviously cannot be confirmed but it appears the most likely course of events is as follows.
This season seven expeditions were attempting the standard Kinshofer Route on the Diamir (north) face of the mountain. An eighth, a team from Romania, was climbing from the Rupal (south) side.
On the Diamir side the climbers, in total more than 50, came from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Turkey, and the Ukraine.
A prolonged spell of snowfall had kept teams confined to base camp but by Saturday 22 June, the weather had improved, the mountain was shaking off snow, and most climbers had gone back on the route.
At around 10:30pm that day a group of gunmen, dressed in local police or paramilitary uniform, arrived at the Diamir base camp.
They appear to have tied up the local Pakistan base camp staff, then proceeded to shoot any foreign climbers, leaving three Ukrainians, one Lithuanian, two Slovakians, three Chinese, a Nepalese Sherpa, and a Pakistani dead. It is reported that one Chinese managed to escape unscathed.
Names of these climbers have not yet been released, but there were only two climbers from Slovakia attempting the mountain, Anton Dobes and the highly experience IFMGA guide Peter Sperka. The leader of a large international expedition, Aleksandra (Ola) Dzik, has confirmed that the Lithuanian was Ernest Marksaitis.
Two of the murdered Chinese were Yan Chunfeng and Rao Jianfeng, who were both trying to complete the 14 8,000ers. Yan had already climbed 11, and Rao 10. One of the dead Chinese was a US citizen.
The gunmen, variously reported to be 12-15 in number, took money and documents before making their escape under the cover of darkness.
The Taliban have been quick to claim responsibility for this brutality, saying it was carried out by the Junood ul Hisfa, one of its factions set up to "attack foreigners and convey a message to the world about drone strikes"
It's thought the terrorists kidnapped two Pakistan guides and forced them to lead the way to base camp. One of these was was killed in the shooting.
Local police were alerted to the incident early Sunday and immediately summoned the Pakistan Army, who flew to base camp in helicopters.
Climbers on the mountain descended and have been escorted to Gilgit by the military. Many have already flown from there to Islamabad.
All expeditions on the mountain have been cancelled, except for a three-man team of highly experienced Pakistan mountaineers, who were hoping to make an unsupported ascent of the Kinshofer Route. These three are at base camp and undecided whether to continue. On the far side of the mountain the Romanians are continuing with their climb.
Climbers arriving in Islamabad, and hoping to travel up the Karakoram Highway to Gilgit, are being stopped until officials feel that access to this area has been made secure. The incident should not effect groups operating much further east in the Baltoro region, where access is normally via a flight from Islamabad to Skardu.
An 'unprovoked' attack of this magnitude on a mountaineering base camp seems unprecedented, and makes previous incidents, such as the famous Sendero Luminoso assault on a base camp in the Cordillera Huayhuash during the 1980s, seem almost tame by comparison.
However, last year's incidents, including a Taliban attack on a bus in a nearby area when 20 passengers were killed, shows strong presence of terrorists in this region.
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