China sends investigators to Pakistan following suicide attack on nationals

By Anadolu staff

China has sent a team of investigators to Islamabad to participate in the investigation into the killing of its two nationals in a recent suicide attack in the southern port city of Pakistan, state-run media reported on Friday.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that an inter-agency working group had already been dispatched to Islamabad and is in contact with Pakistani investigators, CGTN reported.

"The working group met intensively with heads of Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, and military, police and intelligence departments, and asked the Pakistani side to properly handle ensuing matters, make every effort to save the injured, conduct thorough investigations, bring all the perpetrators to justice, and step up security measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in Pakistan," it said.

The spokesperson added that Pakistan strongly condemned the attack, investigating the incident and "nailing down" the perpetrators.

On Sunday, at least three people, including two Chinese nationals and a local Pakistani, were killed and 17 others injured in a suicide attack near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

Police reported that a lone suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy carrying the Chinese nationals. Among the injured were security personnel accompanying the convoy.

Later, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited the Chinese embassy in Islamabad, condemned the attack and assured to bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a banned group that has previously targeted Chinese nationals in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. Baloch separatists have accused China of exploiting the mineral-rich resources in the southwestern Balochistan province.

In March, a suicide bomber killed at least five Chinese nationals in the Shangla district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who were working on the Dasu Hydropower Project in the remote Kohistan district. Their Pakistani driver also lost his life in the attack.

The Dasu hydropower project is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion project that will connect China's northwestern Xinjiang province to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid