{"id":42504,"date":"2024-10-07T03:57:23","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T03:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=42504"},"modified":"2024-10-07T03:57:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T03:57:26","slug":"blast-kills-two-chinese-near-pakistans-karachi-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=42504","title":{"rendered":"Blast kills two Chinese near Pakistan&#8217;s Karachi airport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BBC:    <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two Chinese nationals have been killed and at least ten people injured after an explosion near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said there were &#8220;some local casualties&#8221; in what it described as a &#8220;terrorist attack&#8221;, though the overall death toll is still unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The embassy added that the explosion targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a power project in the country&#8217;s Sindh province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has in recent years carried out attacks on Chinese nationals involved in projects, has claimed responsibility for the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement released on Monday, the militant group said it had &#8220;targeted a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors&#8221; arriving from Karachi airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The attack was carried out using a &#8220;vehicle-borne improvised explosive device&#8221;, Reuters quoted the BLA as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The explosion happened around 23:00 local time (17:00 GMT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Chinese embassy said that the engineers were part of the Chinese-funded enterprise Port Qasim Power Generation Co Ltd, which aims to build two coal power plants at Port Qasim, near Karachi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plant is part of the China-Pakistan economic corridor, which is also funding a number of infrastructure and energy projects in Pakistan&#8217;s Balochistan province, which has a rich supply of natural resources, including gas and minerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BLA along with other ethnic Baloch groups has fought a long-running insurgency for a separate homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has regularly targeted Chinese nationals in the region, claiming ethnic Baloch residents were not receiving their share of wealth extracted from foreign investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Chinese embassy on Monday reminded its citizens and Chinese enterprises in Pakistan to be vigilant and to &#8220;do their best to take safety precautions&#8221;. The embassy added that it will thoroughly investigate the attack and &#8220;severely punish the murderer&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There has also been heightened security in Pakistan as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c0lw9pdw400o\">it prepares to host the leaders&#8217; summit&nbsp;<\/a>of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The blast was reportedly heard in various areas around the city, with footage from local media showing thick smoke and cars set alight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar said that the explosion was likely to be have been caused by a suspected improvised explosive device (IED).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pictures online show security officials and firefighters investigating the explosion site, where several vehicles have been charred by the blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A police surgeon, Dr Summaiya told Dawn news: &#8220;Ten injured persons, including one in critical condition, have been brought the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC).&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She added the injured included a police constable and a woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A statement posted on X from Sindh&#8217;s Interior Minister&#8217;s office said that a &#8220;tanker truck&#8221; had exploded on Airport Road and said the minister was in contact with the Malir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) regarding the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We need to ascertain the facts,&#8221; the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jinnah International Airport is functioning as usual today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BLA had claimed responsibility for past assaults on a Pakistani naval airbase near the Gwadar port, another main feature of the China-Pakistan economic corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April 2022, it killed three Chinese tutors and a Pakistani driver in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-61225678\">suicide bombing near Karachi University&#8217;s Confucius Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BBC: Two Chinese nationals have been killed and at least ten people injured after an explosion near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said there were &#8220;some local casualties&#8221; in what it described as a &#8220;terrorist attack&#8221;, though the overall death toll is still unclear. The embassy added that the explosion targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a power project in the country&#8217;s Sindh province. The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has in recent years carried out attacks on Chinese nationals involved in projects, has claimed responsibility for the attack. In a&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42506,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42504\/revisions\/42506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}