China sends team to Pakistan to investigate ‘terrorist’ bus attack
- Chinese public security minister says both countries need to work together to find the perpetrators of the explosion
- Security needs to be improved for Chinese nationals and projects in Pakistan, analyst says
In an emergency phone call on Saturday, Chinese Public Security Minister Zhao Kezhi told Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad that the two countries should work together to identify the perpetrators of the “terrorist attack”.
Zhao also demanded Pakistan conduct an assessment of the risks to all Chinese citizens, companies and projects in Pakistan, and do its best to protect Chinese people and their assets in the country.
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Nine Chinese nationals among 13 killed in Pakistan bus blast
A statement issued by China’s Ministry of Public Security about the conversation referred to the explosion on Wednesday as a terrorist attack.
The Chinese embassy in Islamabad said two Pakistani soldiers and two residents were also killed in the explosion.
The blast erupted as the bus was carrying around 40 Chinese engineers, surveyors and mechanical staff to a hydropower dam construction site in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Dozens of people were wounded in the incident that Pakistan initially said was caused by a mechanical failure on the bus. But on Thursday, after traces of explosives were found on the vehicle, Pakistan said it would not rule out a terrorist attack.
