One year on: Nanga Parbat attackers wanted to kidnap a Chinese-American

GILGIT: The massacre of 10 foreign climbers on Pakistan’s ‘Killer Mountain’ last year came after a failed attempt to capture a Chinese-American and use him as a bargaining chip, officials and militant sources said.

The June 22 attack at the base camp for the Nanga Parbat was the deadliest assault on foreigners.

Most of the 10 suspects implicated in the attack are still at large.

The victims were identified as three Ukrainians, two Chinese - including Chinese-American Chen Honglu – two Slovakians, one Lithuanian and one Nepalese and a Pakistani guide.

According to militant sources, the dual national Chen was the prime target.

The story began in early June 2013, when two mysterious commanders approached local fighters. They introduced themselves as important Taliban cadres from Afghanistan and briefed them on the Nanga Parbat operation.

“They were told that the mission was about kidnapping a foreigner in order to later bargain for the release of an important Taliban commander,” an investigator assigned to the case revealed.

The men left for the Nanga Parbat base camp wearing the uniforms of the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary police unit. But as the attack unfolded, Chen left his tent and tackled one of the militants. The militant, named Mujeeb, panicked and shot him. The remaining climbers were then tied up and shot.

Beyond Chen’s US nationality it is unclear why he became valued target of the group. The Alpinist magazine reported that 50-year-old studied electrical engineering at Tsinghua University in China and worked in California before returning to Shanghai.

In a video clip recorded by negotiators, Mujeeb owned up to the killing of Chen but told them he would not surrender because he acted in ‘self-defence’.

More than four months went by before authorities made their first arrests in the case. A total of 18 people were detained.

Bashir Qureshi, a member of the negotiating team, said there were many grey areas in the case. “Nothing is clear, they have mixed up four different cases to give an impression that all the perpetrators have been arrested but the real perpetrators are still at large,” he said.