Suicide bomber targets Chinese citizens in Karachi attack
At least three Chinese citizens and one other person were killed yesterday in a suicide bombing in Pakistan.
A woman acting on behalf of a separatist movement attacked a minibus carrying staff from the Confucius Institute, a Chinese cultural centre affiliated with the University of Karachi.
The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility, with spokesman Jeeyand Baloch calling it a “self-sacrificing attack on Chinese in Karachi”.
The bombing was the group’s first to be carried out by a female militant, he said.
The militant organisation is one of several fighting for independence for Pakistan’s largest province.
Chinese people have regularly been attacked by separatists in Balochistan, where Beijing is involved in huge infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
Karachi police confirmed four people died in the attack – three Chinese citizens and the Pakistani driver of the minibus.
CCTV footage broadcast by local channels showed a woman standing near the gate of the institute, which is inside the university grounds.
As the approaching bus got to within a metre, she turned her back to it and detonated a bomb strapped to her body.
Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif immediately condemned the attack.
“I am deeply grieved on the loss of precious lives including of our Chinese friends in the heinous attack in Karachi today,” he said on Twitter.
Mr Sharif took over as prime minister earlier this month after former leader Imran Khan was removed in a vote of no confidence.
Tackling the resurgence in militancy will be one of Mr Sharif’s biggest challenges.
In February, Baloch separatists staged four days of attacks in two places in the province, killing nine soldiers.
Tension has flared in recent years in Balochistan after an influx of Chinese investment.
China is upgrading energy links and infrastructure as part of a $54 billion programme known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, with both nations wary of security threats to the projects.
Separatists have long harboured resentment against the Chinese projects in the region, claiming that locals do not see the benefits.
In April last year, a suicide bomb attack at a luxury hotel hosting the Chinese ambassador in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, killed four and wounded dozens. The ambassador was unhurt.