Move FM Global News

KARACHI, Pakistan – China expressed shock after a brazen terrorist attack claimed by separatist insurgents targeted the country’s consulate in Pakistan’s Karachi city on Friday morning.

The attack that took place at about 09:30 local time (04:30 GMT) on Friday and involved three armed suicide bombers, who attempted to storm the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

The three assailants then engaged in an hour-long gun battle with the local Pakistani police, with gunshots ringing out in the vicinity of the consulate located in Clifton area of the city.

Subsequently, the police said that they succeeded at thwarting a bigger attack as all the three assailants were shot dead before they could storm the consulate with a car packed with explosives. 

However, the intense shootout left two police officers dead. 

The attack was later claimed by the separatist insurgent group called the Balochistan Liberation Army from the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

In a statement following the attack, a senior police official Ameer Ahmad Sheikh said that all the Chinese diplomats and staff at the consulate were safe and that none of them had suffered any injuries during the attack or the subsequent shootout.

The consulate building also serves as the residence of Chinese diplomats and other staff members. 

Local reports quoted the police chief Mohammad Ashfaq as saying that the attackers first opened fire at the consulate guards and hurled grenades at the building. 

He explained that the armed separatists managed to breach the main gate and enter the building.

However, the gunfire and multiple blasts triggered immediate response from the local police, who received support from Pakistani security forces that quickly surrounded the area and engaged in a fiery gun battle with the assailants. 

The local police have said that the “quick response of the guards and police” ensured that the terrorists could not reach the diplomats. 

The police chief has stated that they conducted a search operation following the attack, in a bid to trace and capture all the suspects. 

The police have also revealed that one of the attackers was wearing a suicide vest.

Officials at the Jinnah Hospital confirmed later that two police officers had been killed and that their bodies had been brought to the hospital morgue.

The attack also left one of the consulate guards injured.

The area remains cordoned off and the security and police presence has been increased in the area.

‘Fighting Chinese occupation’

Claiming the attack later in the day, the Balochistan Liberation Army declared that the attack was part of its fight against “Chinese occupation.”

The separatists group posted the photos of the three attackers and wrote on Twitter, “Karachi: Fidayeen (Arabic for ‘one who sacrifices himself’) of BLA attacked the Chinese embassy in Karachi.”

In a statement, the group’s spokesman said, “We have been seeing the Chinese as an oppressor, along with Pakistani forces. Out objectives are clear – we will not tolerate any Chinese military expansionist endeavors on Baloch soil.”

The group is one of the many similar separatist groups that hails from the restive Balochistan province.

Karachi, where the attack occurred on Friday, is the capital of Sindh province, which borders the Balochistan province.

The separatist groups from the province have led a nationalist insurgency for several years now.

Their attacks against Chinese workers in Balochistan have increased in recent years, as China invests in construction projects in the region. 

The resource-rich, yet impoverished province is key to Beijing’s ambitious ‘China Pakistan Economic Corridor’ (CPEC) project and has seen the Asian economic powerhouse make huge investments worth billions in a bid to boost Pakistani infrastructure.

As part of its project, the close Pakistani ally is seeking to link its western Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar in Balochistan.

Friday’s attack, which was the second attack by Baluch separatists this year that specifically targeted China, came months after a suicide bombing left five Chinese workers injured.  

In August, a suicide bomber slammed into a bus carrying Chinese workers to the site of a mining project owned by a Chinese firm in southwestern Baluchistan.

Before that, in May this year, gunmen opened fire on two Chinese nationals in Karachi, killing one and wounding the other.

The Balochistan Liberation Army addressed a letter to China’s ambassador to Pakistan in August this year, in which it warned China against the “exploitation of Baluchistan’s mineral wealth and occupation of Baloch territory.”

According to government statistics, the Baluch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for 12 attacks so far this year.

All the attacks have targeted security personnel guarding infrastructure projects related to the Chinese Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Ties ‘mightier than the Himalayas’

The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and alleged that it was part of a “conspiracy against Pakistan and China’s economic and strategic cooperation.”

Khan said that he had ordered an investigation and vowed that such incidents would never be able to undermine relations with China.

He said Pakistan’s ties with China are “mightier than the Himalayas and deeper than the Arabian Sea.”

The country’s new leader also lauded the Karachi police and the paramilitary rangers.

Khan said that they “showed exceptional courage in defending the consulate” and that the “nation salutes the martyrs.”

The Chinese government expressed its shock at the attack and confirmed that all of its staff inside the consulate were safe. 

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that he was “shocked” by the attack and called on Pakistan to prevent any further attacks.

Yi called for extra measures to protect Chinese citizens in Pakistan and added, “At the same time we mourn the deaths of the Pakistani police and think of their families at this time.”

A statement published on the Chinese ministry’s website said that China’s foreign minister strongly condemned the attack during a phone call with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.