KARACHI – A massive blast outside the Karachi airport in southern Pakistan killed two workers from China on Sunday and injured at least eight others in the latest deadly attack on Chinese in the country.
Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded near what is Pakistan's largest airport. Video showed flames engulfing cars and a thick column of smoke rising from the scene. There was a heavy military deployment at the site, which was cordoned off.
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A Chinese Embassy statement said that a convoy carrying Chinese staff of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company (Private) Limited had been attacked around 11 p.m., killing two Chinese and injuring one other. It said there were Pakistani casualties as well.
Thousands of Chinese workers are in Pakistan, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is building major infrastructure projects to improve trade routes with the rest of the world.
The airport attack followed a deadly day of attacks in August that killed more than 50 people in nearby Balochistan province and that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said sought to harm Chinese-funded development projects.
Balochistan is home to a separatist insurgency demanding independence and that accuses the federal government of unfairly exploiting the oil- and mineral-rich province at the expense of locals.
Rahat Hussain, who works in the civil aviation department, said Sunday's blast in Karachi was so big that it shook the airport’s buildings.
The provincial home minister, Zia Ul Hassan, told local TV station Geo that the explosion was an attack targeting foreigners.
The Chinese Embassy statement called the explosion a “terrorist attack” and said that China is working with Pakistan to handle the aftermath. It called for a thorough investigation to punish the perpetrators and reminded Chinese citizens in the country to take safety precautions.
“The Chinese Embassy and Consulates General in Pakistan strongly condemn this terrorist attack (and) express deep condolences to the innocent victims of both countries,” the statement said.
Deputy Inspector General East Azfar Mahesar told media that it seemed like it was an oil tanker explosion.
“We are determining the nature and reasons for the blast. It takes time." Police officers were among the injured, he added.
The home minister and inspector general also visited the blast site, but they did not talk to the media.
A suicide bombing killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March in northwestern Pakistan as they headed to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in the country.
Five Japanese workers en route to a factory in Karachi escaped unharmed in April after a suicide bomber targeted their van. One bystander was killed.
In 2022, three Chinese educators and their Pakistani driver were kille d when an explosion ripped through a van at the University of Karachi.
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Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.