A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in northwest Pakistan, killing six people, according to officials.
According to accounts, this is the third significant attack on Chinese interests in the South Asian country in a week.
The first two attacks targeted a Pakistan naval air base and a key port used by China in the southwest area of Balochistan, where Beijing is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Ali Gandapur, the regional police officer, said that the engineers were on their way from Islamabad to their camp at the dam construction site in Dasu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in the attack,” Gandapur said.
According to reports, Dasu is home to a significant dam and has previously been assaulted. In 2021, a bus blast killed thirteen individuals, nine of whom were Chinese nationals.
Chinese engineers have been working on a variety of projects in Pakistan, with Beijing investing more than $65 billion on infrastructure as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is part of Beijing’s larger Belt and Road Initiative.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, or for the 2021 attack. Pakistan is home to two insurgencies: one by Islamists and the other by ethnic militants seeking secession.
While Chinese interests are primarily targeted by the ethnic militants seeking to push Beijing out of mineral-rich Balochistan, they generally operate in the country’s south and southwest far from the site of the attack.
Islamists mostly operate in Pakistan’s northwest, the area where the convoy was attacked.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to visit Beijing next week, according to a source in the Prime Minister’s Office, his first since taking office following February elections.
A Pakistani military statement said the three attacks in the last week were aimed at destabilising the internal security situation, accusing “foreign elements” of aiding and abetting such incidents in Pakistan.
It said strategic projects and sensitive sites vital to Pakistan’s economic progress were being targeted in an effort to sabotage it and sow discord between Pakistan and its allies, most notably China.
Pakistan’s Indian Ocean port of Gwadar, on the route to key Gulf shipping lanes, is managed by China, while nearby naval air base Siddique is used to support security and development work, spearheaded by Beijing, in Balochistan.
Both were attacked in recent days by Baloch separatists.
Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar condemned the attack and said Pakistan would continue to fight back against militants.
Pakistan’s foreign office said the life and safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan was of paramount importance.
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