ISLAMABAD: At least five Chinese nationals working on the Dasu hydropower project were among the six people killed on Tuesday when an explosive-packed vehicle rammed into their bus in Pakistan’s troubled northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Several others were injured in the incident that occurred in the Bisham area of Shangla district of the province when a bus from Islamabad to Kohistan was hit by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, police said.
Senior police officer Muhammad Ali Gandapur said apparently it was a suicide attack. “Five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in the attack,” Gandapur said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shangla is close to Kohistan, where 13 people including nine Chinese were killed in a terrorist attack in 2021. Strongly condemning the attack and expressing “deep grief”, President Asif Ali Zardari said, “Anti-Pakistan elements will never succeed in damaging Pak-China friendship.”
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi rushed to the Chinese embassy and met Ambassador Jiang Zaidong. He offered condolences and also assured that the Pakistan government would bring the perpetrators to justice.
Thousands of Chinese personnel are working in Pakistan on several projects being carried out under the aegis of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.