In northwest Pakistan, a driver deliberately collided their car, which was carrying explosives, into another vehicle on Tuesday.This incident killed five people from China and their driver from Pakistan. This information comes from the police and government officials.
The attack happened in Shangla, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This was confirmed by the local police chief, Bakhat Zahir. He said that the five people who died were construction workers and engineers who were going to the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan, the Dasu Dam, where they worked.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is next to Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban have increased their attacks there in the past few years.
Officials said the dead bodies were taken to a hospital close by, and security teams began a big search in the area to find any other people involved. The police are looking into the attack.
On Tuesday, there was an attack in Baluchistan just a few days after Pakistani forces killed eight militants who were shooting at a convoy of Chinese people near the Gwadar port. This all happened in the Baluchistan province.
The BLA wants to be free from the government in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s leader, Mohsin Naqvi, spoke out against the attack and expressed sympathy for the families of those who died. He said: “China’s friends in Pakistan are being targeted by the enemy,” but he didn’t say who the enemy is. He promised to punish those responsible very severely and hoped the attack would not harm the relationship between Pakistan and China.
Naqvi went to China’s embassy in Islamabad and told the Chinese ambassador, Jiang Zaidong, about the attack. He promised to do a complete investigation, as per the ministry of interior.
Many Chinese people are working in Shangla on big projects like building roads, power plants, and farming, as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The CPEC, also called the One Road Project, is very important for Pakistan’s government, which is running out of money and facing a really bad economic crisis. This is a project in China called the Belt and Road Initiative. It’s a big plan to connect China to other countries in Asia by rebuilding the Silk Road.
Chinese workers building things in Pakistan have been hurt by bad people.
In July 2021, a suicide bomber exploded a vehicle near a bus carrying Chinese and Pakistani workers, killing at least 13 people, including 9 Chinese nationals. This caused Chinese companies to stop working for a while.
Pakistan has increased the security for projects related to CPEC.