Pak now says blast that killed 9 Chinese may be terror strike
NEW DELHI: A day after claiming that a gas leak within a bus resulted in the death of nine Chinese nationals, Pakistan said on Thursday that traces of explosives had been found in the vehicle and terrorism couldn’t be ruled out in the incident.
Beijing had pushed back strongly in the face of Islamabad’s claim on Wednesday, describing the incident as a “bomb attack” and demanding punishment for the perpetrators and steps to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in Pakistan.
Thirteen people, including nine Chinese nationals, were killed when the bus carrying workers to the 4,300MW Dasu hydropower project was hit by a blast in Upper Kohistan area of Pakistan’s Khyber-pakhtunkhwa province.
“Initial investigations into Dasu incident have now confirmed traces of explosives. Terrorism cannot be ruled out, PM [Imran Khan] is personally supervising all developments in this regard. The [Pakistan] government is in close coordination with the Chinese embassy. We are committed to fight the menace of terrorism together,” Pakistan’s information minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted on Thursday.
In the face of pressure from China to investigate the incident, Pakistan’s foreign office had said in a statement the bus carrying Chinese workers had “plunged into a ravine after a mechanical failure resulting in leakage of gas that caused a blast”.
Experts cited images of the bus shared on social media and said the damage appeared to have been caused by an explosion instead of a fall into a ravine. They also questioned the contention that the bus was powered by gas.
A statement on the incident issued by the Chinese embassy in Islamabad referred to an “attack on the Dasu hydropower project” and said a “Chinese company’s shuttle bus...was hit by a blast on its way to the construction site” in Khyber-pakhtunkhwa.
The statement said the Chinese embassy had contacted the Pakistani military and foreign and interior ministries and sought steps to “strengthen security protection for the Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan” and a thorough investigation of the incident.