Gunmen strike China’s consulate in Pakistan
karachi — Three suicide attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi amid a series of gunshots and an explosion on Friday, but were killed before they could force their way in with a car packed with explosives, police said.
The attack, claimed by separatist insurgents from the impoverished southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, killed four people, including two police, but it was far from the most deadly on a particularly violent day across the region.
A suicide attacker on a motorbike set off explosives in a crowded festival and market in northwest Pakistan’s Orakzai region, killing at least 33 people at around the same time as the Karachi bloodshed.
The attack on China’s consulate in Karachi was claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army insurgent group that opposes Chinese projects linked to its Belt and Road initiative in resource-rich Balochistan. —
islamabad — Prime Minister Imran Khan said Friday’s assault on China’s diplomatic mission in Karachi was due to trade deals signed between the two nations earlier this month.
“The failed attack against the Chinese Consulate was clearly a reaction to the unprecedented trade agreements that resulted from our trip to China,” Khan said on Twitter. “The attack was intended to scare Chinese investors — these terrorists will not succeed.”
The former cricket star condemned both attacks and said they were “part of a planned campaign to create unrest in the country by those who do not want Pakistan to prosper.”
The assault in Pakistan’s largest city and financial hub left seven people dead. The incident is the second major attack this year on Chinese officials in Karachi, a megacity of at least 15 million people in a country that is one of the key partners in China’s Belt and Road initiative. In February gunmen killed Chen Zhu, a shipping executive, in the city’s posh Zamzama district. The violence has raised concern in Beijing, which is financing infrastructure projects valued at about $60 billion across Pakistan.
An explosive-laden vehicle was driven outside the Chinese consulate and in an exchange of fire two policemen guarding the building and all three assailants were killed, Amir Shaikh, a senior police official, told reporters in Karachi. Two civilians collecting visas also died. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi later told lawmakers in Islamabad that a suicide bomber had detonated explosives while trying to enter the building.
The raid will come as a shock to China and Pakistan’s armed forces, which have beefed up security across the South Asian nation after a number of military operations targeting terrorist groups since 2013. Pakistan’s army has also raised a 15,000 strong force to protect the Chinese projects and has curtailed the movement of workers at those sites who aren’t allowed outside without an armed escort.
Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind that we will crush the terrorists, whatever it takes. My prayers go to the victims and their families
Salute the brave security/police personnel who gave their lives & denied [access] to terrorists in the mission at Chinese Consulate
imran Khan @ImranKhanPTI
Beijing has become increasingly vocal over the risks in Pakistan. In December last year, its embassy in Islamabad warned of imminent terror attacks on Chinese targets. That followed the Daesh-claimed killings of two Chinese teachers in June 2017 in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, where China is building a port.
“China has requested Pakistan to take measures to make sure the safety of Chinese citizens and organizations,” Geng Shuang, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a daily briefing in Beijing on Friday. “China believes that Pakistan will take measures to make sure that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor proceeds smoothly,” he said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Faisal told reporters in Islamabad that it is too early to know who is responsible. Reuters reported that the Balochistan Liberation Army, a rebel group in the restive province neighbouring Karachi, claimed the attack.
“Similar attacks targeting Chinese engineers and businessmen happened in the past to force Pakistan’s government to back down from certain issues,” said Sun Shihai, director of the Institute of South Asia Studies in Sichuan University of China.
“These individual attacks will only raise the awareness of Pakistan and China’s governments to put more emphasis on security.”
China’s influence has increased across Pakistan in recent years. Islamabad has also pivoted to Beijing as relations with the US are increasing strained under President Donald Trump, who cancelled military aid to Pakistan this year. —