Baluchistan's senior health official, Noor Haq Baloch, said at least 106 people were wounded - mostly police trainees and some paramilitary troops.

Major General Sher Afgan, chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, told reporters that the attackers appeared to be in contact with handlers in Afghanistan.

He said they belonged to the banned Lashker-e-Jhangvi group, an Islamic militant group affiliated with al Qaida.

Mr Haq said many of the trainees were killed when the gunmen detonated explosive vests.

Baluchistan home minister Sarfaraz Bugti said one of the attackers was killed by security forces and two detonated their explosive vests. He said security forces have completed their operation but were still engaged in the clean-up process.

He said at the time of Monday's attack about 700 trainees were at the base. He said more than 200 trainees were rescued immediately after the attack.