PAKISTAN'S MILITARY SAYS RECENT SUICIDE ATTACK THAT KILLED 5 CHINESE WAS PLANNED IN AFGHANISTAN

Pakistan's Military Says Recent Suicide Attack That Killed 5 Chinese Was Planned in Afghanistan

May 07th, 19PM May 07th, 19PM

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's military on Tuesday said

a suicide bombingthat killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen.

At a news conference, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Ahmad Sharif said four men behind the March 26 attack in Bisham, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had been arrested.

Sharif said the attack that killed the Chinese engineers, who were working on Pakistan's biggest Dasu Dam, was an attempt to harm friendship between Pakistan and China. Thousands of Chinese are working on projects relating to the

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Sharif also said Pakistani Taliban who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan were behind a surge in attacks inside Pakistan since January that killed 62 security forces nationwide.

The attacks have prompted several foreign embassies to take extra security measures, asking diplomatic staff and nationals in Pakistan to remain vigilant.

In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. consulate said it was "aware of a threat of a terrorist attack at Karachi Port," and asked its citizens and embassy staff to stay away from the area. It also advised them to keep a low profile and stay alert in places frequented by tourists.

Karachi — Pakistan's largest city — has witnessed several militant attacks on Chinese and Pakistanis in recent years. Last month, five Japanese workers

narrowly escaped a suicide blastthat targeted their van and killed a Paskitani bystander.

Sharif said the Afghan Taliban had failed to honor promises they made to the international community before coming to power, vowing no one would be allowed to use Afghan soil for attacks against any country.

There was no immediate comment from the Afghan Taliban government, which had previously denied such allegations.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who

seized powerin Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

Sharif said Tuesday that Pakistan had solid evidence about TTP involvement in the rising violence and vowed not to allow any undocumented foreigners to remain in the country.

Since last year, nearly 563,639 Afghans living illegally

had gone back to Afghanistanafter Islamabad launched a crackdown on illegal migrant, drawing widespread criticism from international and domestic human rights groups.

The army spokesman added that Pakistan's military had completed 98% of a fence being constructed along the border with Afghanistan. He said 91% of a fence along the Iranian border had also been completed to check illegal movement, curb smuggling and prevent cross-border militant attacks.

Afghanistan has never recognized the porous border that runs through the heartland of the Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group.

The army spokesman also dismissed media reports about the possibility of any deal or talks with the country's imprisoned

former Prime Minister Imran Khanor his party. Khan is serving multiple prison sentences on

charges of corruption,

revealing official secretsand

marriage law violations.

Khan was

ousted by a parliamentary no-confidence votein April 2022. He accused the military, his rival, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the the United States of being behind his ouster. All three have denied the accusation.

2024-05-07T16:28:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd