The attack that killed Chinese engineers in Dasu was an attempt to damage relations between Pakistan and China, the army spokesperson claimed, especially after new economic projects.
The Pakistani army affirmed this Wednesday that the suicide attack that killed five chinese engineers and that a Pakistani driver in March was planned to be in Afghanistan and that the attacker was an Afghan national.
At a press conference, army spokesman Major General Ahmad Sharifsaid four men involved in the March 26 attack in Bisham, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have been detained.
Sharif said the attack that killed Chinese engineers working on Pakistan’s largest dam, Dasu, was an attempt to damage relations between Pakistan and China.
Thousands of Chinese are working on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a crucial part of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, which aims to open new trade routes.
Sharif said Pakistan has strong evidence that the Pakistani Taliban, who have refugees in Afghanistan, are behind a wave of attacks that have killed 62 members of the security forces across the country since January.
The attacks prompted several foreign embassies to adopt additional security measures, asking diplomatic staff and Pakistani citizens to remain alert.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the US consulate said it was “aware of the threat of a terrorist attack at the port of Karachi” and asked US citizens and embassy staff to stay away from the area.
The consulate also recommended that they remain discreet and alert in places frequented by tourists.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, has been the scene of several militant attacks in recent years.
Last month, five Japanese workers narrowly escaped an attack by a suicide bomber who targeted the van they were following, killing a Pakistani bystander.
Sharif claimed that the Afghan Taliban failed to fulfill promises they made to the international community before coming to power, not to allow any force to use Afghanistan to carry out attacks in other countries.
The Pakistani Taliban, a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, denied being behind the March attack and said in a statement at the time that “our only targets are the forces of security imposed in Afghanistan.” us.”
“We are not involved in any way in this attack,” they stated at the time.
Pakistan’s army spokesman has vowed not to allow undocumented foreigners to remain in the country.
Sharif said that the Pakistani army has completed 98% of the construction of a fence along the border with Afghanistan and 91% of the fence along the border with Iran to control illegal movements, curb smuggling and prevent cross-border terrorist attacks.
Since last year, 563,639 Afghans who were illegally in Pakistan have returned to Afghanistan, after Islamabad launched a crackdown on illegal migrants, sparking widespread criticism from human rights groups.
Afghanistan has never recognized the porous border with Pakistan, which runs through the central land of the Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group.
Source: Observadora
