This is the first time the Baloch Liberation Army used a female suicide bomber. Chinese targets have regularly been attacked by separatists in Balochistan, where Beijing is involved in infrastructure projects as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor
Police inspect a site around damaged vehicles following a suicide bombing near the Confucious Institute affiliated with the Karachi University, in Karachi on 26 April, 2022. (AFP)
The Baloch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for a suicide blast in which four people, including three Chinese nationals, were killed at the Karachi University in Pakistan on Tuesday.
The “Baloch Liberation Army accepts responsibility for today’s self-sacrificing attack on Chinese in Karachi”, the separatist group’s spokesman Jeeyand Baloch said in a statement published in English on Telegram.
The mission was the first to be carried out by a female militant, he added.
The blast happened near the university’s Confucius Institute – a non-profit institute teaching Mandarin to local students.
Karachi police confirmed four people had died in the attack, including three Chinese nationals.
According to Dawn, the fourth person killed in the blast was the Pakistani driver of the van which was carrying Chinese nationals.
Two Rangers personnel behind the van on motorcycles, PTI reported.
Videos of the van in which the blast took place were also posted on social media with flames of fire completely destroying the vehicle as police and paramilitary rangers reached the scene immediately and cordoned off the areas.
CCTV footage broadcast by local channels showed a woman standing near the gate of the institute, inside the Karachi University grounds, as the minibus pulls up, AFP reported.
When it gets to within a metre she turns her back on it and detonates a bomb strapped to her body.
Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif immediately condemned the attack.
“I am deeply grieved on the loss of precious lives including of our Chinese friends in the heinous attack in Karachi today,” he tweeted.
Sharif only took over as premier after Imran Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote earlier this month, and tackling a resurgence in militancy will be one of his biggest challenges.
“I strongly condemn this cowardly act of terrorism,” Sharif said, adding “the perpetrators will surely be brought to justice”.
Chinese targets have regularly been attacked by separatists in Balochistan province, where Beijing is involved in huge infrastructure projects as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC.
In February, Baloch separatists staged four days of attacks across two locations in the province, killing nine soldiers.
Tensions have flared in recent years in Balochistan following a massive influx of Chinese investment.
In April 2021, a suicide bomb attack at a luxury hotel hosting the Chinese ambassador in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, killed four and wounded dozens.
The ambassador was unhurt.
Separatists have long harboured resentment against lucrative mining and energy projects in the region, saying locals do not see the benefits.
With inputs from agencies
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