ISLAMABAD: Two Chinese nationals and an unknown individual were killed and 17 others injured in a powerful explosion near Karachi’s Jinnah International airport late Sunday night, the Chinese embassy in Islamabad said on Monday, describing the bombing as a terrorist attack .
The blast, which the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed was a suicide attack by one of its members, occurred a week ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders’ summit in Islamabad.
The Chinese embassy said it was a terrorist attack targeting a convoy of 25 Chinese engineers working on a power project in southern Sindh province .
At least 23 Chinese nationals have died in terror attacks in Pakistan since 2018. In the worst-ever terror attack, nine Chinese engineers who were on their way to a dam construction site in Dasu in northwestern Pakistan were killed when a suicide bomber hit their bus in July 2021.
“We have received two dead bodies of Chinese nationals and the mutilated remains of an unidentified body,” police surgeon Dr Sumaiyya Syed said at Jinnah Hospital. The third body was thought to be that of a suicide bomber. “Their autopsies were conducted and relevant samples were collected,” she said, adding that the injured were being treated.
The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the suicide attack had targeted a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors travelling from Karachi airport . In a statement, the group named the perpetrator as Shah Fahad, part of a BLA suicide squad called “Majeed Brigade”. “The attack was carried out using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device,” the BLA said.
Initially, contradictory reports had emerged following the blast. Some officials had called it an IED explosion, while the Sindh home minister’s office said a “tanker truck” had exploded on the airport road.
Footage of the scene showed several vehicles had caught fire. A total of seven vehicles were destroyed in the attack.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attack a “heinous act” and offered his condolences to the Chinese people. “Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends,” he wrote on ‘X’.
The Chinese embassy said the slain engineers were part of the China-funded enterprise aiming to build two coal power plants at Port Qasim , near Karachi.
Currently hundreds of Chinese engineers have been working on infrastructure and energy projects linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC), part of Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Port Qasim plant is also part of CPEC.
The BLA has frequently targeted Chinese nationals in the region, claiming ethnic Baloch residents of Baluchistan province were not receiving their share of wealth extracted from foreign investors. The restive province has a rich supply of natural resources, including gas and minerals.
In March this year, the BLA had claimed responsibility for the attack on a Pakistani naval air base near Gwadar port, another key feature of the CPEC. In April 2022, the group had killed three Chinese tutors and their Pakistani driver in a suicide attack near Karachi University’s Confucius Institute. That attack, according to BLA, was carried out by a woman bomber. Four people were killed when gunmen stormed a Chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018.
The Chinese embassy reminded its citizens and Chinese enterprises in Pakistan on Monday to be vigilant and to “do their best to take safety precautions”. The embassy added that it hoped Pakistan would thoroughly investigate the attack and “severely punish the murderer”.
The blast, which the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed was a suicide attack by one of its members, occurred a week ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders’ summit in Islamabad.
The Chinese embassy said it was a terrorist attack targeting a convoy of 25 Chinese engineers working on a power project in southern Sindh province .
At least 23 Chinese nationals have died in terror attacks in Pakistan since 2018. In the worst-ever terror attack, nine Chinese engineers who were on their way to a dam construction site in Dasu in northwestern Pakistan were killed when a suicide bomber hit their bus in July 2021.
“We have received two dead bodies of Chinese nationals and the mutilated remains of an unidentified body,” police surgeon Dr Sumaiyya Syed said at Jinnah Hospital. The third body was thought to be that of a suicide bomber. “Their autopsies were conducted and relevant samples were collected,” she said, adding that the injured were being treated.
The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the suicide attack had targeted a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors travelling from Karachi airport . In a statement, the group named the perpetrator as Shah Fahad, part of a BLA suicide squad called “Majeed Brigade”. “The attack was carried out using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device,” the BLA said.
Initially, contradictory reports had emerged following the blast. Some officials had called it an IED explosion, while the Sindh home minister’s office said a “tanker truck” had exploded on the airport road.
Footage of the scene showed several vehicles had caught fire. A total of seven vehicles were destroyed in the attack.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attack a “heinous act” and offered his condolences to the Chinese people. “Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends,” he wrote on ‘X’.
The Chinese embassy said the slain engineers were part of the China-funded enterprise aiming to build two coal power plants at Port Qasim , near Karachi.
Currently hundreds of Chinese engineers have been working on infrastructure and energy projects linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC), part of Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Port Qasim plant is also part of CPEC.
The BLA has frequently targeted Chinese nationals in the region, claiming ethnic Baloch residents of Baluchistan province were not receiving their share of wealth extracted from foreign investors. The restive province has a rich supply of natural resources, including gas and minerals.
In March this year, the BLA had claimed responsibility for the attack on a Pakistani naval air base near Gwadar port, another key feature of the CPEC. In April 2022, the group had killed three Chinese tutors and their Pakistani driver in a suicide attack near Karachi University’s Confucius Institute. That attack, according to BLA, was carried out by a woman bomber. Four people were killed when gunmen stormed a Chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018.
The Chinese embassy reminded its citizens and Chinese enterprises in Pakistan on Monday to be vigilant and to “do their best to take safety precautions”. The embassy added that it hoped Pakistan would thoroughly investigate the attack and “severely punish the murderer”.
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