ISLAMABAD– Pakistan’s military said Tuesday that a suicide bomb attack that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the attacker was an Afghan national.
At a news conference, army spokesman Major General 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 Chinese engineers, who were working on Pakistan’s largest Dasu Dam, was an attempt to damage the friendship between Pakistan and China. Thousands of Chinese are working on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Sharif also said that the Pakistani Taliban who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan were behind a surge in attacks inside Pakistan since January that killed 62 members of the security forces across the country, and that Pakistan had strong evidence of the Taliban’s innovation. group in increasing violence.
The attacks have prompted several foreign embassies to take additional security measures, asking diplomatic staff and citizens in Pakistan to remain alert.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US consulate said it was “aware of a threat of terrorist attack at the port of Karachi” and asked its citizens and embassy staff to stay away from the area. He also advised them to keep a low profile and remain alert in places frequented by tourists.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, has seen several militant attacks against Chinese and Pakistanis in recent years. Last month, five Japanese workers narrowly escaped a suicide blast that targeted their van and killed a Pakistani bystander.
Sharif said the Afghan Taliban had failed to fulfill promises they made to the international community before coming to power and promised that no one would be allowed to use Afghan soil to attack any country.
The Pakistani Taliban, a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, denied being behind the March attack, in a statement at the time that “our only targets are the forces of security (and their agents). ) imposed on us. “We are not involved in any way in this attack.”
On Tuesday, Mohammad Khurasani, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban – known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP – condemned the use of Afghan soil for attacks against security forces inside Pakistan. He said in a statement on Tuesday that the group’s militants, who were present across the country, attacked security forces and military personnel.
Furthermore, the army spokesman promised not to allow any undocumented foreigners to remain in the country. He said that Pakistan Army had completed 98% of a fence being built along the border with Afghanistan and 91% of a fence along the Iranian border to check illegal movement had also been completed, curb smuggling and prevent cross-border militant attacks.
Since last year, nearly 563,639 Afghans living illegally have returned to Afghanistan after Islamabad launched a crackdown on illegal migrants, drawing widespread criticism from domestic and international human rights groups.
Afghanistan has never recognized the porous border that runs through the heartland of the Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group.
Sharif also dismissed media reports about the possibility of any deal or talks with the country’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan or his party. Khan is serving multiple prison terms on charges of corruption, revealing official secrets and marriage law violations.
Khan was ousted by a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022. He accused the military, his rival, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the United States of being behind his overthrow. All three have denied the accusation.