ISLAMABAD: Washington has condemned a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese nationals working on a dam project in the South Asian country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday, saying no country should have to suffer “acts of terror.”
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers that was on its way from Islamabad to a camp in Dasu, the site of a major dam project, Bakht Zahir, a local police officer in the Shangla district where the attack took place, told Arab News.
He said the five Chinese nationals killed were construction workers and engineers. The Pakistani driver of the vehicle was also killed in the attack.
The attack is being widely seen as an attempt to undermine a relationship on which Islamabad’s financial survival largely depends as Beijing is investing over $65 billion in energy, infrastructure and other projects in Pakistan as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under its wider Belt and Road initiative. Hundreds of Chinese engineers and technicians work on the projects, many of which are based in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwest Balochistan provinces.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa borders Afghanistan and has been the site of renewed attacks by militants, mainly the Pakistani Taliban, in recent years. Attacks by separatist militants in Balochistan have also been on the rise.
“We condemn the attack on a convoy of PRC [People’s Republic of China] engineers in Pakistan,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a news briefing.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and injuries sustained, and share our heartfelt condolences with those affected by the attack. The Pakistani people have suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists, and I’ll note that PRC nationals in Pakistan have also been the victims of terrorist attacks, and no country should suffer the acts of terror.”
China has demanded that the Pakistan government “conduct a thorough investigation into the attack, severely punish the perpetrators, and take practical and effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens,” Beijing’s embassy in Islamabad said in a statement on Tuesday, as Pakistani officials pledged a speedy investigation.
“CHINESE INTERESTS”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, which is the third major attack in Pakistan in a week.
Last week, militants attacked Balochistan’s strategic Gwadar port, which China is developing as part of CPEC. All eight militants and two Pakistani soldiers were killed in the attack, officials said.
The second attack, on a naval base in Balochistan’s Turbat region, took place this week on Monday night, in which one Pakistani paramilitary soldier and five militants were killed.
Chinese interests in Pakistan have been targeted by both religiously motivated and separatist militants in the past as well.
In July 2021, a blast on a bus carrying workers to the Dasu dam construction site killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers. Pakistan had blamed that attack on the intelligence agencies of rival neighbors India and Afghanistan. Both countries denied the accusations.
A female suicide bomber affiliated with a separatist group killed three Chinese teachers in Karachi in April 2022 along with their local driver.
In August 2023, militants attacked a Pakistani military convoy near Gwadar as it was escorting a delegation of Chinese nationals to a construction project. The Pakistan army said at the time two militants were killed and no harm was caused to any military personnel or civilians.
