Arrests after Chinese attack

2004-05-04 10:52

Karachi - Two Pakistanis have been arrested over a car bomb attack which killed three Chinese engineers helping to develop a major seaport in southwestern Pakistan.

The two were seized in Gwadar, the coastal town where an explosive-laden vehicle was blown up by remote control as a van carrying 12 Chinese engineers and technicians passed by early on Monday.

"We have arrested two people in Gwadar in relation to the blast," said police officer Abdul Qayum. "The two are being interrogated but it is too early to give details."

A senior police officer said the detainees were from Karachi and that the car used in the blast had been stolen from the city in 1995.

Monday's attack was the first against foreigners in Pakistan since a chain of terror strikes in 2002 by Islamic militants incensed at the US-led bombardment of Afghanistan in late 2001.

Two of those attacks involved suicide car bombs in Karachi.

Attacked

In May 2002, 11 French naval technicians and three Pakistanis were killed. One month later the US consulate was attacked, and 12 Pakistanis died.

Nine other Chinese workers from the China Engineering Harbour Company, which is overseeing the $248m port project, were wounded in Monday's blast.

The Pakistani driver and a Pakistani guard also suffered burns.

The company has around 400 employees living at Gwadar, close to the border with Iran and 480km west of Karachi, Pakistan's main southern city.

Police suspect Monday's attackers were either Islamic extremists or hardline groups from surrounding Baluchistan province, angry that workers from other provinces or countries are taking most of the jobs at the port.

The bodies of the Chinese were flown to Karachi on Monday and were being kept at the Pakistan Navy Ship hospital.

Chinese consular officials said they were in touch with the victims' families to determine when their bodies would be flown home.

The 11 injured - nine Chinese and two Pakistanis - were evacuated to Karachi's Aga Khan hospital, where they are being treated for burns.

"All the injured are now out of danger," said Communications Minister Babar Ghouri.

President Pervez Musharraf has written to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to condemn the attack.

- AFP