- 3 killed in suicide attack targeting Chinese workers in SW Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - At least three people, including a suspected bomber, were killed in a suicide attack on a convoy of Chinese workers in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, officials said.

The bombing, which was the latest in a series of attacks on Chinese workers in the country, took place in the strategically important city of Gwadar, a key route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project worth billions of dollars.

The attack was staged against three Chinese vehicles with the Pakistani military and police security details, said a statement by the Interior Ministry.

A young boy, the statement said, bolted out of a nearby residential area towards the convoy but was stopped by undercover security forces. The boy immediately detonated the explosives on his person 15-20 meters (50-65 feet) from the convoy.

According to the statement, two children playing nearby were killed in the blast, while one Chinese national sustained minor injuries.

The provincial Interior Minister Mir Zia Langov told Anadolu Agency that another two children were critically injured in the attack.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Baloch separatists, as well as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a conglomerate of several militant groups in Pakistan, have been involved in attacks on Chinese workers in the near past.

Nine Chinese engineers had been killed in a suspected suicide attack on a shuttle bus in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkwa province last month.

Pakistan has accused Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies of being behind the attack on Chinese nationals working on a CPEC-related dam project.

Both countries denied the charge.

In April, a bomb explosion at a luxury hotel in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, killed at least five people. Chinese ambassador Nong Rong was staying at the hotel, but was not present there when the blast erupted. The TTP had claimed responsibility for the attack.

In 2018, suspected Baloch separatists killed at least four people in an attack on the Chinese consulate in the port city of Karachi.

The $64 billion CPEC is aimed at connecting China's northwestern Xinjiang province to the port of Gwadar in Balochistan.

Pakistan is a close ally of China and a large number of Chinese nationals are based in the country to supervise the infrastructure projects. Pakistan's army created a special security division for the security of CPEC and its workforce.