At least 5 Chinese dam employees and their native driver have been killed in a suicide assault in northwest Pakistan Tuesday.
A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden automotive into the automobile carrying the Chinese nationals, police and authorities officers stated.
The assault occurred in Shangla, a district within the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, native police chief Bakhat Zahir stated. He added that the 5 killed have been building employees and engineers heading to the Dasu Dam, the most important hydropower undertaking in Pakistan, the place they labored.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province borders Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up assaults there in recent times.
Authorities stated the our bodies have been transported to a close-by hospital and that safety forces began an enormous search within the space to search for accomplices. Police additionally launched an investigation into the assault.
Tuesday’s assault got here lower than per week after Pakistani safety forces killed eight Baluchistan Liberation Army terrorists who opened hearth on a convoy carrying Chinese residents outdoors the Chinese-funded Gwadar port within the risky southwestern Baluchistan province.
The BLA needs independence from the central authorities in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the assault in an announcement Tuesday and supplied condolences to the households of the deceased.
“The enemy has focused Chinese residents who’re the chums of Pakistan,” he wrote, with out elaborating who he was referring to.
He additionally vowed to “deal with an iron hand” these accountable, and expressed hope the assault would not negatively affect Pakistani-Chinese relations.
Naqvi additionally visited China’s embassy within the capital, Islamabad, the place he briefed the Chinese ambassador, Jiang Zaidong, concerning the assault, promising a full investigation, based on the ministry.
Thousands of Chinese nationals work in Shangla on initiatives referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, together with a number of mega initiatives resembling highway building, energy vegetation and agriculture.
The CPEC, often known as the One Road Project, is a lifeline for Pakistan’s cash-strapped authorities, at present going through one of many worst financial crises. It is a part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a worldwide endeavor aimed toward reconstituting the Silk Road and linking China to all corners of Asia.
Chinese laborers engaged on CPEC-related initiatives in Pakistan have come below assault in recent times.
In July 2021, at the least 13 individuals, together with 9 Chinese nationals, have been killed when a suicide bomber detonated his automobile close to a bus carrying a number of Chinese and Pakistani engineers and laborers, prompting the Chinese firms to droop work on the time.
Since then, Pakistan has beefed up safety on CPEC-related initiatives.
Source: www.dailysabah.com