PESHAWAR: Six persons, including five Chinese engineers, killed in a suspected suicide attack in Besham, district Shangla of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police officials said on Tuesday.

According to Regional Police Officer (RPO) Malakand, Mohammad Ali, the foreigners were on their way to Kohistan from the federal capital Islamabad when an explosive-laden vehicle rammed into their vehicle.

The explosion was so severe that the vehicle carrying Chinese engineers plunged into a deep ravine and fire was erupted in it. The victim Chinese engineers had been working on Dasu Hydropower Project. Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has condemned terrorist attack on the vehicle of Chinese nationals.

Reuters adds: Dasu is the site of a major dam and the area has been attacked in the past. A blast on a bus killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, in 2021.

Chinese engineers have been working on a number of projects in Pakistan with Beijing investing over $65 billion in infrastructure works as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under Beijing’s wider Belt and Road initiative. No one claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, nor was there a claim for the 2021 attack. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have reached the spot and started relief operations.

A separate police source told Reuters the convoy was carrying staff of the construction firm China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) working on the Dasu hydropower project - the same company targeted in 2021. Construction work ceased for months after that attack. China’s embassy in Pakistan demanded investigations into the attack.

“The Chinese embassy and consulates in Pakistan have immediately launched emergency work, demanding that the Pakistani side conduct a thorough investigation into the attack, severely punish the perpetrators, and take practical and effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens,” the embassy said in statement.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024