Hyderabad: At least five Chinese nationals were among the six persons 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 were working on the Dasu hydropower project. Several others were injured in the incident that occurred in the Bisham area of Shangla district of the province when a bus en route from Islamabad to Kohistan was hit by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, the police said. There have been several major attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan.
Here are a few of them:
On March 20, 2024, Baloch separatists armed with guns and bombs attacked Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port, key to the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, in firing seven militants shot dead by security forces. Unidentified militants on August 13, 2023, attacked a convoy of Chinese engineers in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan Province. Three security officers were injured in an exchange of fire, while two militants were killed and three injured. No Chinese nationals were hurt in the attack.
On April 26, 2022, a female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers in Karachi and on July 14, 2021, an explosion struck a bus carrying Chinese workers, killing nine of them, plus four other passengers. On June 29, 2020, the BLA claimed responsibility for an attack on the Pakistan
Similarly, in 2019, the separatist outfit attacked Chinese tourists at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar. One of the first suicide attacks targeting Chinese workers took place in Balochistan’s Dalbandin area in August 2018. At least three Chinese engineers, who were believed to be working on a mineral project, were injured in the attack. The 22-year-old man, who carried out the suicide bombing was the son of slain BLA commander Aslam Baloch.
On December 25, 2003, President Pervez Musharraf escaped unhurt in a suicide bomb attack which killed 15. At least 43 people were killed when a bomb exploded at a Shia Muslim shrine in south Balochistan province on March 20, 2005.
On April 11, 2006, 57 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a Sunni Muslim prayer service in Karachi. Bomb attacks targeting former premier Benazir Bhutto killed 139 people in Karachi as she returned to Pakistan for the first time in eight years on October 18, 2007. Bhutto herself died in a gun and suicide attack on December 27, 2007.
On November 5, 2010, 68 worshippers were killed as a suicide bomber targeted a mosque during Friday prayers in Darra Adam Khel. Four people died in a grenade attack at another mosque in the region later the same day. A spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban says the group was responsible for the attack.
On September 29, 2023, two explosions killed dozens of people in Pakistan. The first blast struck a procession, which was being taken out to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad in Mastung, Balochistan province, with 58 people.
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