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Two Chinese nationals were killed and 17 people injured in a suicide attack by a Baloch insurgent group late at night that targeted a convoy of Chinese workers near Pakistan's busiest airport in Karachi, authorities said on Monday.
The explosion near the Jinnah International Airport on Sunday night also killed a suspected suicide bomber. The attack is the latest in a string of violence against Chinese workers in Pakistan. It comes less than two weeks before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's summit to be held in the national capital.
The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the blast was a suicide attack targeting a convoy of Chinese engineers and investors leaving the Jinnah International Airport.
The attack occurred less than a mile from the airport's main terminal. Authorities briefly suspended all traffic going to the airport.
It targeted a convoy carrying Chinese staff of an electric power company.
”Initial investigations show that a small vehicle was used to carry out the suicide attack when the vehicle carrying the Chinese nationals reached the main signal near the Karachi Airport,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Asif Sheikh said.
He said that it appeared the vehicle used by the suicide bomber had explosives and as soon as it hit the target it exploded.
The Chinese embassy confirmed that two of its nationals had died and another was injured, along with ”some local casualties”.
”Three bodies were brought to the hospital and two of them are Chinese nationals,” surgeon Dr Summaiya at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC) said.
A senior police official at the Counter Terrorism Department said the third body could be that of the suicide bomber.
Another police official said that the explosion was heard far and wide in the city and an oil tanker which was at the signal had also caught fire and exploded.
”It was the tanker explosion which caused so many injuries and damage to at least a dozen vehicles in the close range,” he said.
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.
Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) on Monday said last night's terror attack near the Karachi airport would not ”go unpunished”.
”This deplorable act of terrorism is an attack not only on Pakistan but also on the enduring friendship between Pakistan and China. We remain resolute in bringing to justice those responsible for this cowardly attack, including the Majeed Brigade," the FO said in a statement.
”Pakistan's security and law enforcement agencies will spare no effort in apprehending the perpetrators and their facilitators. This barbaric act will not go unpunished,” the FO said.
It said the ministry of foreign affairs was in close contact with the Chinese embassy for coordination and facilitation.
”Pakistan and China are close partners and iron brothers, united by a bond of mutual respect and shared destiny. Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects, and institutions in Pakistan, and will continue to work hand in hand with our Chinese brothers to defeat the forces of terror,” it said.
Thousands of Chinese personnel are working in Pakistan on several projects under the aegis of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The Chinese embassy on Monday asked its citizens and Chinese enterprises in Pakistan to be vigilant and to "do their best to take safety precautions". It also asked Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the incident and "severely punish the murderer".
In a statement, the Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) said that airport buildings and assets remained safe in the incident. Flight schedules at the airport are continuing as normal.
Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting CPEC projects.
The BLA accuses China and Islamabad of exploitation of the resource-rich province, a charge rejected by the authorities. It has fought a long-running insurgency for a separate homeland.
The group in the last two years carried out similar suicide bomb attacks in Karachi targeting foreign nationals.
The BLA in March this year claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani naval air base near China-run Gwadar port.
In April 2022, the group killed three Chinese tutors and a Pakistani driver in a suicide bombing near Karachi University's Confucius Institute.
In November 2018, gunmen killed at least four people in an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi.