Investigators from China arrived in Pakistan on Friday to probe the death of five Chinese nationals in a major terrorist attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as more Chinese companies halted work on hydropower projects in the restive northwest region.
Investigators from China arrived in Pakistan on Friday to probe the death of five Chinese nationals in a major terrorist attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as more Chinese companies halted work on hydropower projects in the restive northwest region.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber rammed his car laden with explosives into a vehicle in the Bisham area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing five Chinese and their Pakistani drivers as they approached a construction site at the Dasu Hydroelectric Power Station in Kohistan district. Were going to the site. Same province.
It was the latest attack on Chinese interests in the cash-strapped country.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met investigators at the Chinese Embassy here and briefed them about the investigation so far, an official statement said on Friday.
The visit comes two days after Pakistani officials shared preliminary findings of their investigation into the attack with the Chinese embassy.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday ordered a thorough joint investigation into the deadly terrorist attack on Chinese citizens, as Beijing pressured Islamabad to intensify the search for the culprits and take effective steps to protect Chinese personnel working in the country. Poured.
No group has yet claimed any responsibility for Tuesday’s attack.
However, in the past insurgents affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) of ethnic Baloch nationalists have carried out such attacks against foreign nationals.
Pakistan has blamed enemies with ties to China for the latest attack but avoided naming any country or group.
“Pakistan and China are close friends and iron brothers. “We have no doubt that the Bisham terror attack was carried out by the enemies of Pakistan-China friendship,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch said at a weekly press briefing on Thursday.
He said Pakistan is “fully committed to bringing terrorists and their facilitators and supporters to justice” and vowed that such attacks would further strengthen Pakistan’s resolve to fight terrorism.
Chinese security experts believe the latest attack is a replication of the July 2021 Dasu terror attack in which nine Chinese citizens and four Pakistanis were killed.
Thousands of Chinese workers are working on several projects in Pakistan under the auspices of the US$60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Meanwhile, Pakistani media reported on Friday that two more Chinese companies have stopped work on hydropower projects in the unruly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
On Thursday, China Power Construction Corporation suspended civil works at the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project in the province’s Swabi district and laid off more than 2,000 workers.
Following the Tarbela project, Chinese companies have now suspended civil work at the Dasu and Diamer-Bhasha dams due to safety concerns and around 1,000 Chinese engineers working on both projects have ceased operations.
According to The News International newspaper, local employees of both projects have been instructed to stay at home until further orders.
An official working on the Dasu Dam project confirmed that the Chinese company has stopped work and local workers have been asked to stay at home. About 741 Chinese nationals and 6,000 locals were employed in the project.
Similarly, general manager of the 4,800 MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam (DBD) Nazakat Hussain also confirmed that the Chinese company has stopped the work and said that around 500 Chinese nationals were engaged in the DBD, but Frontier, out of around 6,000 locals. Employees of Works Organization are still working. Work.
However, 250 Chinese engineers are still working on the Mohmand Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the newspaper quoted the dam’s general manager Asim Rauf as saying.