QUETTA, Pakistan, Aug 20 (Reuters) – A suicide attack on a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals in southwest Pakistan has killed two children and injured three on Friday, police said.
The suicide bomber struck East Bay Road in Gwadar port at around 7pm, injuring Chinese citizens, according to a police statement. Gwadar is located in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where separatist militants have fought a long-standing insurgency.
“Two children have been killed and three injured in the attack,” said Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Shahwani.
The Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist militant organization, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“BLA carried out a ‘sacrificed’ attack on a convoy of Chinese engineers,” the group said in a statement.
China is involved in the development of the port of Gwadar in the Arabian Sea as part of a $ 60 billion China-Pakistan economic corridor, which is part of China’s belt and road infrastructure project.
The Pakistani interior ministry said a boy came out of a nearby fishing colony and exploded about 15-20 meters from the convoy.
“As a result of a Chinese citizen was injured, he was rushed to the nearby hospital in Gwadar, where he is stable,” the ministry said in a statement.
The four vehicles carrying Chinese citizens were escorted by army and police.
Pakistan is already conducting a thorough review of the security of Chinese citizens in the country, the Interior Ministry statement added.
In July, an attack on a bus in northwestern Khyber-Paktunkhwa province killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers. Two Pakistani soldiers were killed. Read more
Written by Raza Hassan; Edited by Alex Richardson and Grant McCool
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