Vehicle carrying Chinese engineers was not bulletproof: report

Preliminary report reveals female engineer among Chinese nationals killed in Bisham attack

PESHAWAR:

The vehicle transporting five Chinese nationals, who tragically lost their lives in last month's Bisham attack, was not equipped with bulletproof and bombproof features, according to a report based on preliminary examination.

The findings from the report state that the vehicle transporting the foreign engineers was not up-armoured and lacked protection against bullets or explosions.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police has submitted a second report to the federal government, shedding light on the suicide attack targeting Chinese engineers in Bisham. Among the deceased victims was a female engineer.

According to the report, authorities have collected remnants of the vehicle used by the assailant to strike the Chinese convoy at the incident site, situated approximately six and 77 kilometres away from Bisham police station and Dasu dam, respectively.

The bus involved in the attack was found to be 15 feet distant from another bus, and it plunged 300 feet deep as a result of the suicide blast impact.All buses within the Chinese convoy were reportedly outfitted with closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV), and pieces of the attacker's vehicle have been recovered.

The development came a day after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered action against five officials over their “negligence” in light of an inquiry report on the suicide attack on March 26.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed a thorough joint investigation into the Bisham terrorist attack. A joint investigation team was formed to probe the attack.

Read Five officials to be punished over Bisham attack

Later, the premier decided that he would review the meetings conducted regarding the security situation in the country in general and the security of the Chinese nationals working on different projects across the country, in particular, every month.

Hundreds of Chinese people are employed at the Dasu and Diamer Bhasha dam construction sites.

Operations by Power China have resumed at Diamer Bhasha. However, the China Gezhouba Group Company’s operations at Dasu remain suspended.

This was not the first instance of Chinese nationals facing danger in the region. In mid-2021, a devastating suicide car bombing targeted a bus convoy transporting Chinese engineers working on a major hydropower project, killing nine Chinese nationals and three local workers.

Pakistan hosts thousands of Chinese engineers and labourers, many of whom are engaged in projects associated with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an integral component of Beijing's expansive Belt and Road Initiative.

Also last month, militants attacked Balochistan’s strategic Gwadar port, which China is developing as part of CPEC. All eight militants and two Pakistani soldiers were killed in the attack.

The second attack, on a naval base in Balochistan’s Turbat region, took place the following week, in which one Pakistani paramilitary soldier and five militants were killed.

In August 2023, militants launched an attack on a Pakistani military convoy near Gwadar while escorting a group of Chinese nationals to a construction site. The Pakistan army reported that two militants were neutralised, with no casualties among military personnel or civilians.