The Pakistani military successfully repelled a militant attack on Chinese engineers in the Balochistan province in southwest Pakistan, killing two militants while leaving the Chinese workers unscathed, according to authorities.
A clearance operation is currently under progress, according to Chakar Baloch, the police superintendent for the Gwadar district where the attack occurred, who told CNN that after two hours of fighting between police and terrorists. Two members of the security team were hurt.
An aggressive separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to CNN.
According to Pakistan’s armed forces, a firefight with security forces resulted in at least two militant deaths and three injuries.
Security personnel, according to the military, have cordoned off the whole area and begun a search operation.
The attack was harshly denounced by China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday, and it urged Pakistani authorities to punish the perpetrators and guarantee the safety of Chinese citizens.
“China will continue to work with Pakistan to prevent and respond to the threat of terrorism, and effectively protect the safety of Chinese personnel, institutions, and projects in Pakistan,” said Wang Wenbin, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry.
He continued, “Any attempt to undermine the friendship between China and Pakistan and the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would never succeed.
The $60 billion CPEC project builds a network of roads, railroads, pipelines, and power plants to connect Pakistan’s strategically important Gwadar port to China’s western Xinjiang province.
It is a key component of the Belt and Road Initiative, the global infrastructure initiative spearheaded by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Balochistan, the largest but least populous province of Pakistan, shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan. The Gwadar port, a vital component in the CPEC, is also located there.
Pakistan’s main source of economic and military assistance comes from China, a close ally. Terrorist acts, however, have concerned Beijing in recent years as they have targeted Chinese nationals and their interests in Pakistan.
Three Chinese professors and a driver were killed in an alleged suicide attack in April 2022 close to the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi. The Confucius Institute was a target of that attack, according to the Baloch Liberation Army, who described it as a “symbol of Chinese economic, cultural, and political expansionism.”
The most recent significant assault on Chinese engineers took place in the north of Pakistan in July 2021. According to local authorities, a bus carrying Chinese engineers crashed into a ditch after a “fiery explosion,” killing more than a dozen individuals.