Bombers strike at heart of Pakistan-China ties
VIOLENCE FLARES ACROSS REGION AS TWO MORE BLASTS KILL 61
In the most significant strike against Chinese interests in Pakistan in years, three suicide attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in Karachi amid a series of gunshots and an explosion yesterday, but were killed before they could force their way in with a car packed with explosives.
On a day of violence that included a bombing that killed at least 35 people in northwestern Pakistan, the near-miss attack on the consulate in Karachi was a rare moment of upheaval for a tightening economic and strategic partnership between Pakistan and China.
The Balochistan Liberation Army said that three of its members had “embraced martyrdom” in the Chinese Consulate attack. The attack killed four people, including two police, but it was far from the most deadly on a particularly violent day across the region.
Prime Minister Imran Khan insisted that such attacks could not shake the relationship between China and Pakistan. He said the strike had clearly been intended “to scare Chinese investors” and came as a result of trade agreements announced during his trip to China this month.
Over the border in eastern Afghanistan, a suicide blast at a mosque on an army base killed at least 26 people and wounded 50, security officials said. The blood-letting comes as faint hopes for peace in Afghanistan have been stirred by two meetings between US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban.
Asuicide blast at a mosque in an army base in eastern Afghanistan yesterday killed at least 26 people and wounded 50, security officials in the area said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
One security official said the victims had gathered for Friday prayers at the mosque, in the Ismail Khel district of Khost province.
All those killed in the suicide attack were working for the Afghan security forces, said Captain Abdullah, a military spokesman in Khost, who goes by only one name.
The Taliban, who are waging a war to oust the Westernbacked Afghan government and expel foreign forces from Afghanistan, have launched a series of high-profile attacks Taliban against Afghan security forces in recent weeks.
Hundreds of Afghan security guards have been killed, their checkpoints destroyed and weapons seized by the hardline Islamist fighters.
Yesterday’s attack came three days after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a gathering of religious scholars in Kabul, the capital.
Officials said 55 scholars marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) were killed and more than 90 injured in the blast in a banquet hall.
55 killed in a separate attack three days earlier