ISLAMABAD (AP) — A team of Chinese investigators arrived in Pakistan on Friday to join a probe into a suicide attack that killed five of its nationals earlier this week, officials said, as Pakistan continued its own investigations into the attack.
The slain Chinese engineers and workers were heading on Tuesday to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in northwest Pakistan, when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into their vehicle.
A Pakistani driver was also killed in Tuesday’s attack in Shangla, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Beijing condemned the attack and asked Pakistan to conduct a detailed investigation and ensure protection of thousands of its nationals who work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
According to a government statement, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday briefed the Chinese investigators about Pakistan’s investigations into the attack.
Two days earlier, Pakistani officials shared with the Chinese embassy the preliminary findings of their investigation into the attack, for which so far no group has claimed responsibility.
Chinese working on CPEC-related projects have been targeted in Pakistan in recent years.
In July 2021, at least 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, were killed when a suicide bomber detonated the explosives in his vehicle near a bus carrying Chinese and Pakistani engineers and laborers, prompting Chinese companies to suspend work for a time.
