At least five Chinese nationals were killed on Tuesday when an explosive-packed vehicle rammed into their bus in Pakistan’s troubled northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.
The Chinese nationals, who were killed in today’s horrific attack, were working on the Dasu hydropower project.
The engineers, mostly foreign nationals, were travelling from a hydroelectric dam construction site towards the capital Islamabad when the bombing happened near Besham City.
However, this is not the first time that Chinese nationals have become targets of militant attacks in Pakistan. Chinese are often targeted in Pakistan, where Beijing has huge investments under its “Belt and Road” initiative which has seen it ink two $2 trillion in contracts around the world.
Here’s a brief account of attacks where Chinese nationals were targeted or killed in Pakistan:
August 2023: ‘Fidayeen’ Attack In Gwadar Killed 4 Chinese
At least four Chinese nationals were killed in an attack by armed rebels in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on August 13, 2023. According to local media reports, Pakistani security forces killed two terrorists in a gunfight in retaliation.
The attack was carried out by the suicide squad, Majeed Brigade, of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), news agency Associated Press reported.
September 2022: Chinese Dentish Shot Dead in Karachi
A young Chinese man was shot dead while a Chinese dentist couple were critically wounded when a man posing as a patient, wearing a surgical mask, entered their clinic in a busy commercial area in Pakistan’s Karachi and opened indiscriminate fire on the victims.
April 2022: 3 Chinese Killed in Karachi Suicide Bombing
Three teachers from China and a driver were killed in a suicide bombing near a Chinese language learning centre in Pakistan’s Karachi in April 2022. The four victims were in a van near the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute when the blast ripped through the vehicle.
A female suicide bomber was responsible for the attack, the Karachi police said in a statement.
August 2021: 9 Chinese Killed in Bus Explosion
At least nine Chinese citizens were killed in August 2021 after a bus carrying construction workers in Pakistan’s far north plunged into a ravine following an explosion, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.
Later, then Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi confirmed it was a suicide bombing by Islamist militants backed by the Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies.
August 20, 2021: Vehicle Carrying Chinese Nationals Targeted by Suicide Bombers
At least two children were killed and a Chinese citizen was wounded in a suicide attack in southern Pakistan in August 2021. The suicide blast took place at East Bay Road in the port of Gwadar.
Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist militant organisation claimed responsibility for the attack.
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