Two Chinese nationals have been killed and several other people injured in an explosion near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport (KHI) in Pakistan.
The blast, considered to be a terrorist attack, happened on the evening of October 6, 2024, when a tanker positioned just outside the airport exploded.
Separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, telling local media via an emailed statement that the plan was carried out using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device specifically targeting “a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors” coming from Karachi airport.
The two casualties were employees of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Chinese embassy in Islamabad has demanded Pakistan “conduct a thorough investigation of the attack, and severely punish the perpetrators”.
The Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement on its social media accounts, including Facebook, to say that Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif strongly condemns the terrorist attack and expresses grief for the two Chinese national casualties.
New Gwadar International Airport
China has been building megaprojects in Pakistan since 2015. This includes the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which has been under construction for almost a decade.
The CPEC, which measures over 3,000 kilometers, is planned to stretch from the western Chinese city of Kashgar to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.
Another of China’s major projects in Pakistan is the New Gwadar International Airport (GWD), which is anticipated to be the country’s biggest airport when it opens.
The $250 million new Chinese-funded airport was due to be inaugurated on August 14, 2024, with plans of Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the ceremony.
The official opening has been delayed and postponed a number of times over security concerns.