BEIJING: China will continue to support Pakistan in counter-terrorism operations, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, after two Chinese nationals were wounded in a shooting in the country’s commercial hub Karachi last week.

China and Pakistan have the determination and ability to thwart all attempts to undermine China-Pakistan relations and make terrorists pay the price, spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news conference in Beijing.

Mastermind of Karachi airport attack arrested

The statement comes as law enforcement agencies arrested the mastermind and two facilitators of the suicide attack on the Chinese engineers near the Karachi airport.

Sindh Home Minister Zia Ul Hassan Lanjar revealed this during a press conference in Karachi on Monday.

Flanked by Sindh Police Inspector General, Lanjar provided details on the investigation, revealing that the attack was orchestrated with support from several accomplices, including a rickshaw driver and a bank employee.

He added that the attack’s mastermind, namely Javed aka Sami, had coordinated the timing of the attack, informing the attackers via phone when the Chinese nationals exited the airport.

The minister added that the authorities have since arrested three terrorists involved in the attack, along with the mastermind Javed and a female accomplice, apprehended along the RCD Highway.

Two other suspects, including accomplices Danish, Gul Rehman, and Basheer Zaid, remain at large, he added.

It should be noted that on the night of October 6, three people, including two Chinese nationals, were killed in a suicide bombing near Karachi Airport, while more than 12 people, including police and Rangers personnel, were injured and more than a dozen vehicles were damaged.

The blast was so loud that it was heard in far-flung areas of the city including District Central. Initially, the cause of the blast was attributed to the explosion of an oil tanker, but after investigation, it was ruled a suicide blast.