Pakistan bus blast that left 9 Chinese nationals dead was work of suicide bomber, editor says
- Fahd Husain reported the details in his column for Pakistan’s ‘Dawn’ after a briefing by top officials, a source says
- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Pakistan PM Imran Khan both described the blast as a ‘terrorist attack’ in a Friday phone call
The details reported by Fahd Husain – resident editor of Pakistan’s top English-language newspaper, Dawn – came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed via phone the incident that left a total of 13 people dead.
Pakistani officials had earlier described the incident as being caused by a gas leak or a vehicle failure – with at least one Chinese expert expressing the latter view to Beijing-backed tabloid Global Times – although the country’s information minister in a Thursday tweet said “confirmed traces of explosives” had been found.
In Husain’s column, published on Friday, he wrote that two buses carrying Chinese engineers, surveyors and technicians to the construction site at the Dasu hydropower project were intercepted by the suicide bomber as soon as they left their residential camp at the nearby town of Barseen.
“As this convoy came onto the road that was open to traffic, another car manoeuvred itself between the convoy. This vehicle was laden with explosives,” Husain wrote.
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Nine Chinese nationals among 13 killed in Pakistan bus blast
“The driver then rammed the car into the first bus and there was an explosion. However, the detonator malfunctioned and the explosives did not go off with full force. The driver of the second bus, on seeing the bus in front of him hit, tried to swerve but lost control and the bus plunged into the ravine, killing most people on board.”