SHANGLA (Dunya News/Web Desk) – Five Chinese nationals were killed and several other persons injured when the vehicle they were travelling in was attacked near Besham – a town located in Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – on Tuesday.
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of engineers which was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu, Mohammad Ali Gandapur, the regional police chief [DIG Malakand], said.
"Five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in the attack," Gandapur told Reuters.
Dasu – the headquarters of Upper Kohistan district – is the site of a major dam and the area had been attacked in the past. A blast on a bus had killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, in 2021.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police had reached the spot and started relief operations, Gandapur said, adding that rest of the people in the convoy have been protected.
Earlier in the day, the security forces killed four terrorists during an intelligence-based operation carried out in Dera Ismail Khan, the southernmost district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
And in Balochistan, four terrorists were eliminated and a soldier embraced martyrdom as the security forces thwarted an attack on a naval base in Turbat – just days after another attack in Gwadar.
This trend was initially triggered by the then PTI government which allowed the terrorists to resettle in the erstwhile tribal region and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, thus reversing all the gains made during the years-long war against terror.
It is a clear attempt to sabotage the prospects of foreign investment in projects like Reko Diq as well as those associated with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as Islamabad is focusing on economic revival by attracting investment from friendly nations.