SHOCKING - Unidentified gunmen kill 10 foreign mountain climbers and their guide at a hotel in Pakistan

Unidentified gunmen kill 10 foreign mountain climbers and their guide at a hotel in Pakistan

• -  Eleven people, 10 of them tourists from Russia, the Ukraine, and China  were killed 
•    by gunmen in northern Pakistan
• -  The group were visiting the country to climb Nanga Parbat, the ninth tallest 
•    mountain in the world
• -  The group and their guide were gunned down in their hotel at the base of the 
•    mountain

By AP and LAURIE KAMENS

PUBLISHED: 06:15 GMT, 23 June 2013 | UPDATED: 06:15 GMT, 23 June 2013

Police say gunmen killed 11 people, 10 of them foreigners, after barging into a hotel where the victims were staying in northern Pakistan.

The group of tourists from Russia, the Ukraine, and China were staying in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region in order to climb  Nanga Parbat, one of the world's highest mountains.

The gunmen have yet to be identified and their motives are currently unknown.

Ten foreign tourists visiting Pakistan to climb Nanga Parbat (pictured here) and their guide were killed by unidentified gunmen who stormed their hotel

Local police chief Barkat Ali says the climbers from Russia, China and the Ukraine were killed before dawn Sunday as they set off to climb Nanga Parbat, a popular destination for trekkers, in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan.

The mountaineers were killed near the base camp for Nanga Parbat mountain.

The gunmen are said to have stormed into the hotel where the tourists were staying, according to Sky News.

The remote area of northerm Pakistan where the group was gunned down, which is home to the Nanga Parbat mountains (pictured here), has been the site of recent attacks from militants targeting Shi'ite minorities

'Unknown people entered a hotel where foreign tourists were staying last night and opened fire,' said Ali Sher, a police officer in the Gilgit-Baltistan province, the news outlet reported.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The perpetrators have not been identified, but are known to have fled the scene of the crime.

A senior government official told reporters that a large number of security personnel have been sent to Gilgit-Baltistan in the wake of the shooting spree.

Russian, Ukrainian, and Chinese tourists were gunned down in their hotel located in northern Pakistan, at the base of the Nanga Parbat (pictured here)

'Since the area is very remote with no roads or transport, their bodies will have to be retrieved by helicopter,' the official said, according to Sky News.

Though the area where these shootings took place is relatively quiet, and considered one of the most beautiful regions of the country, this is not the first time those parts have seen violence.

The northern Pakistan province was long considered to be on of the country's most secure regions, however, recent attacks from militants targeting Shi'ite minorities have made the area volatile.