ALBAWABA - According to local officials, an explosion occurred near Karachi Airport in southern Pakistan, killing two Chinese nationals and injuring several others.
According to government officials, a tanker blew off just outside Pakistan's largest airport, and as the nature of the blast was not immediately clear, the local broadcaster Geo News reported, citing local sources.
The separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed in a letter emailed to journalists that they were the ones responsible for the explosion and that they used a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device to target "a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors" that was leaving Karachi's airport.
The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said that a convoy transporting Chinese employees of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company was targeted about 11 p.m. It condemned what it described as a "terrorist attack" and called for an extensive investigation to identify and punish the individuals responsible.
"The Chinese Embassy and Consulates General in Pakistan strongly condemn this terrorist attack, express deep condolences to the innocent victims of both countries and sincere sympathies to the injured and (their) families," the Embassy said in a statement.
Local official Azfar Mahesar informed reporters that it seemed to be an oil tanker explosion. "We are determining the type and cause of the explosion. "It takes time." Police officers were among those injured, he said.
Rahat Hussain, a civil aviation official, said the explosion was so powerful that it rocked the airport's structures.
The BLA accuses Beijing of assisting Islamabad in its exploitation of the Balochistan province and explicitly targets Chinese interests, particularly the strategically important port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. It has targeted Beijing's consulate in Karachi and murdered Chinese nationals who were employed in the area, The Guardian reported.
