Investigators from China Reach Pakistan to Probe Suicide Attack That Killed 5 Chinese Nationals

Investigators from China on Friday reached Pakistan to probe the demise of 5 Chinese nationals in a serious terrorist assault in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as extra Chinese corporations have stopped work on hydropower tasks within the restive north-west area.

Five Chinese and their Pakistani driver had been killed when a suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden automotive right into a car within the Bisham space in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday once they had been being pushed to a building web site of the Dasu Hydroelectric energy station in Kohistan district of the identical province.

This was the most recent assault on Chinese pursuits within the cash-strapped nation.

On Friday, an official assertion mentioned that Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met the investigators on the Chinese embassy right here and briefed them on the investigation to date.

The go to comes two days after Pakistan officers shared with the Chinese embassy the preliminary findings of their investigation into the assault.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday ordered a radical joint investigation into the lethal terrorist assault on Chinese nationals, as Beijing pressed Islamabad to pace up the hunt for the perpetrators and take efficient steps to shield Chinese personnel working within the nation.

No group has taken any duty for Tuesday’s assault as but.

However, rebels affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) of ethnic Baloch nationalists previously have carried out such assaults in opposition to international nationals.

Pakistan has blamed enemies of ties with China as chargeable for the most recent assault however restrained from naming any nation or group.

(*5*) international workplace spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch mentioned at a weekly press briefing on Thursday.

She mentioned Pakistan was “fully committed to bringing terrorists, and their facilitators and abettors to justice” and vowed that such assaults would additional strengthen Pakistan’s resolve in combating terrorism.

Chinese safety consultants consider the most recent assault is a duplicate of the July 2021 Dasu terror assault wherein 9 Chinese nationals and 4 Pakistani individuals had been killed.

Thousands of Chinese personnel are working in Pakistan on a number of tasks underneath the aegis of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani media reported on Friday that two extra Chinese firms have stopped work on hydropower tasks within the unruly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

On Thursday, the Power Construction Corporation of China suspended civil works on the Tarbela fifth Extension Hydropower Project within the Swabi district within the province and laid off over 2,000 staff.

After the Tarbela venture, the Chinese firms have now suspended civil work on the Dasu and Diamer-Bhasha dams due to safety issues and about 1,000 Chinese engineers engaged on each tasks have stopped operations.

The native employees for each tasks has been directed to keep residence until additional orders, The News International newspaper reported.

An official engaged on the Dasu dam venture confirmed that the Chinese firm stopped work and native employees had been requested to keep at residence. The venture employed round 741 Chinese nationals and 6,000 locals.

Similarly, General Manager of the 4,800 MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam (DBD) Nazakat Hussain additionally confirmed that the Chinese firm had stopped work and mentioned round 500 Chinese nationals had been engaged in DBD however the Frontier Works Organisation employees, of about 6,000 locals, continues to work.

However, 250 Chinese engineers are nonetheless engaged on the Mohmand Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the newspaper mentioned, quoting Asim Rauf, the overall supervisor of the dam.

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – PTI)