China demands urgent probe after five of its citizens killed in Pakistan suicide attack

Chinese officials have asked Pakistan’s government for an urgent investigation into the killings of five of its nationals in a suicide attack in Balochistan.

At least six people, including five Chinese nationals, were killed in northwest Pakistan after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of engineers working on a dam project in the region.

"The Chinese embassy and consulates in Pakistan have immediately launched emergency work, demanding that the Pakistani side conduct a thorough investigation into the attack, severely punish the perpetrators, and take practical and effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens," the Chinese embassy in Pakistan said in a statement.

It also warned Chinese citizens in Pakistan to stay abreast of the situation and strengthen security measures.

The embassy said China will work more resolutely with Pakistan to do its utmost to maintain the security of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions in Pakistan.

This is the third such attack on Chinese officials and positions in Pakistan. The previous two attacks targeted a Pakistan naval air base and a strategic port used by China in the southwest province of Balochistan where Beijing is investing billions in infrastructure projects.

Pakistani authorities said they will now perform DNA testing on the remains of the suicide bomber who attacked the Chinese engineers. China is also expected to send its own experts to the attack site for an independent investigation along with a joint probe with Pakistan.

Pakistani officials said they shared the latest investigation developments with their Chinese counterparts.

In Tuesday’s attack, the Chinese engineers were returning from Islamabad and were en route to their camp at the dam construction site in Dasu in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, regional police chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur said.

"Five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in the attack," Mr Gandapur said.

A major dam’s site, Dasu was previously attacked in 2021 and has remained under terrorist threat in Pakistan.

Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif went to the Chinese embassy on Tuesday afternoon after the attack and offered condolences to the victims’s families and the Chinese government.

He is expected to visit Beijing next week, marking his first official visit after coming to power in February.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Pakistan is home to twin insurgencies – one by Islamists and the other by ethnic militants.

Islamists mostly operate in Pakistan’s northwest, the area where the convoy was attacked.

However, the Taliban’s off-shoot in Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), denied being behind the attack in a statement Wednesday, saying: “We are in no way related to the attack on the Chinese engineers.”

The multiple attacks threaten China’s trusting alliance with Pakistan as the nation has continued to offer Islamabad support monetarily and diplomatically.

China also sends engineers to Pakistan on a number of projects as Beijing invests over $65bn in infrastructure works as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under Beijing’s wider Belt and Road initiative.