KARACHI: An attempted terrorist attack on Saturday by militants on the Pakistan Naval Dockyard was thwarted, in which one sailor and two attackers were killed, while four were captured alive.

The militants attempted to break into the dockyard, on Defence Day, after which on-duty security guards responded by firing. One Pak Bahria sailor was killed in the attack along with seven others injured.

The revelations were made by known by Pakistan Navy officials on late Monday night.

Naval Commander Kamran Asif told The Associated Press that the militants were armed with rocket launchers, assault rifles and hand grenades.

The injured did not have life threatening wounds and were treated at a hospital.

After interrogating the militants that were taken into custody, a search operation was conducted in different parts of the country in which individuals that were involved in planning the attempted attack, were taken into custody.

Authorities did not say what group the militants belonged to and no one immediately claimed responsibility.

During the search operations large caches of ammunition and weapons were seized.

The naval chief congratulated the security staff who were involved in the successful operation and commended their valor.

He also visited the injured Pak Bahria personnel and paid tribute to their courage.

Formal investigation of the incident has begun, while other law enforcement agencies have also started investigations.

In 2011, Pakistani Taliban fighters attacked the Mehran naval aviation base in Karachi. The assault lasted for 18 hours and killed 10 people.