Reports Stack News and Updates
Pakistan: Four people, including three Chinese women, were killed in a blast in a van inside the Karachi university campus in Pakistan’s financial capital. Several others were also injured in this explosion. It is suspected that the attack was targeted at teachers teaching the Chinese language. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to reports, the blast took place in a van near the Confucius Institute, a non-profit organization teaching the Chinese language to local students. The dead included three Chinese women Huang Guiping, Ding Mpeg, and Chen Sai while another van driver, Khalid. Huang has been identified as the director of the institute. The police feared that it is possible that the blast was aimed at them. During this, two people have been injured, one of which is a Chinese citizen Wang Yuqing and the other is Hamid. Urdu language newspaper ‘Jung’ reported that the van was bringing two foreign nationals who teach Chinese at the IBA Institute at Karachi University. Sindh province Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed grief over the incident.
Dawn newspaper quoted Anti-Terrorist Department official Raja Umar Khattab as saying that the suicide attack was carried out by a woman as ball bearings were found at the site of the incident. In the CCTV footage of the attack, a woman wearing a burqa is seen standing outside the entrance of the Confucius Institute. The woman blew herself up as the van approached the institute’s entrance.
According to the information, two Pakistani Rangers were riding on a motorcycle behind the van. A video of the incident was also posted on social media, in which the van was completely destroyed by the flames. It was told that the blast was caused by a remote-controlled device. Rangers of police and paramilitary forces reached the spot and cordoned off the areas.
This is not the first time that Chinese citizens have been the target of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Last year, a convoy of Chinese personnel engaged in the construction of a CPEC road in Gwadar was attacked in which two people died. Earlier, a bus carrying Chinese engineers exploded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing 13, including nine Chinese engineers. Later, Pakistan also paid heavy damages to the relatives of the deceased, despite not having a settlement condition.
