KARACHI, 4 May 2004 — Three Chinese engineers were killed by a car bomb which hit a bus carrying them to a port project in remote southwestern Pakistan yesterday. The government denounced the attack as terrorism. Three of the injured were in critical condition.
A Pakistani driver and a guard were also among the injured.
The Chinese government expressed deep concern and urged more protection for about 400 of its citizens working on the port project in Gawadar, which has drawn the ire of militants.
The attack occurred at about 9 a.m. (0400 GMT) as the bus was taking at least 12 Chinese to the port, about 500 kilometers west of Karachi, near the border with Iran, said Sattar Lasi, the chief of police in Gawadar. “This is clearly terrorism. The aim was to terrorize the Chinese working at the Gawadar port,” said Lal Jan, another senior police official in Gawadar.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Militant groups have targeted foreigners in the past, but never in such a remote part of the country.
Several nationalist groups have also expressed opposition to the project at Gawadar, which aims to develop a deep sea port that will ultimately provide a second option to the heavily trafficked Karachi port terminal. The $248 million project is expected to be completed by December.
Shoaib Suddle, the police chief in Balochistan province, said it appeared the bomb was set off by remote control. Police investigators have found fuses and pieces of a cylinder that contained the bomb in a white Suzuki car, said Communications Minister Babar Khan Ghauri.
Only the skeleton of the car remained, and the bus was also heavily damaged, with windows shattered and metal twisted, he said.
Ghafoor Baluch, a fisherman who lives near the scene of the attack, said the explosion shook the walls of his home.
“We saw pieces of metal from the car strewn on the beach and stuck in nearby trees,” he said. The explosion left a one-meter crater and smashed the front of the bus, he said.
The three men killed in the explosion were identified as Hao Ghuangchun, 49, Zhou Xuemeng, 55, and Guo Qihong, whose age was not given. Eleven others were injured, nine of them Chinese, Lasi said.
— Additional input from agencies
