5 Chinese engineers killed in suicide bomb attack in Pakistan, probe under way

A Pakistani driver, who was ferrying the Chinese nationals to work at the Dasu hydropower project, was also killed in the attack near Besham town

The attack came less than three years after nine Chinese nationals working on the same project were also killed in a vehicular suicide bombing

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Security officials inspect the wreckage of a vehicle which was carrying Chinese nationals that plunged into a deep ravine off the mountainous Karakoram Highway after a suicide attack near Besham city in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:26pm, 26 Mar 2024Updated: 5:13pm, 27 Mar 2024

Five Chinese nationals have been killed in a vehicular suicide bombing attack in northern Pakistan that echoed a similar attack in the area in July 2021.

A bus carrying the Chinese engineers to work at the Dasu hydropower project on Tuesday was struck near the town of Besham on the Karakoram Highway, the sole overland link between Pakistan and China, officials said.

The force of the blast also killed the Pakistani driver of the bus, hurling it down a gorge onto the banks of the Indus River, said Sheraz Khan, station head of the official Rescue 1122 emergency service.

Security personnel inspect the site of a suicide attack near Besham city in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

The bodies of the six victims were recovered after the fire on board the wrecked bus was extinguished.

The victims had been identified as employees of Wuhan-based engineering firm China Gezhouba Group Co., said Rehmat Ali, a Dasu project official.

The bus was travelling in a convoy of a dozen vehicles, most of them carrying security personnel guarding the Chinese nationals, when it was struck.

No terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

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