Islamabad: Pakistan’s military said that a suicide bomb attack that killed five Chinese engineers was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the bomber was also an Afghan national. The suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in northwest Pakistan in March, killing six people.
“The entire attack was planned in Afghanistan, the car used in it was also prepared in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national,” Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Ahmed Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.
Kabul has previously said rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue for Islamabad and denied allowing the use of its territory by operatives. The Taliban are also seeking economic ties with China, the first country to formally appoint an ambassador to Kabul under the Taliban, and wish to join China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is Beijing’s $65 billion investment in development and infrastructure.
China has stressed to the Taliban the importance of security in the region. Ahmed Sharif said four main suspects in the plot to target the Chinese engineers have been arrested. He added that security for 29,000 Chinese nationals in Pakistan, of which 2,500 were working on CPEC projects and 5,500 on other development projects, was the top priority for security institutions.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have soured in recent months. Islamabad says Kabul is not doing enough to tackle operative groups targeting Pakistan.
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Taliban deny Pakistan’s claim
The Taliban defense ministry rejected Pakistan’s allegations that Afghans were involved in an attack on Chinese engineers, as ties between the neighboring nations sour amidst rising insecurity.
“Afghans are not involved in such matters,” said Mufti Enayatullah Khorazmim, the spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Ministry of National Defence. “Blaming Afghanistan for such incidents is a failed attempt to divert attention from the truth of the matter and we strongly reject it,” he added.
