The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that there was no doubt that Tuesday’s suicide attack in Bisham — which claimed the lives of six people including five Chinese nationals — was “orchestrated by the enemies of Pak-China friendship”.
The five Chinese engineers — and their Pakistani driver — were killed in the suicide bombing on Tuesday while travelling between Islamabad and a hydroelectric dam construction site in Dasu, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The bus was attacked in the Bisham city of KP’s Shangla district.
The attack prompted China to demand a thorough probe into the deadly blast and security for its citizens. In response, Islamabad announced a swift probe to hold the “perpetrators and accomplices” accountable.
According to police, the bus was travelling from Islamabad to Kohistan when it came under the attack on Karakoram Highway. “It was a suicide attack on the Chinese convoy and an explosive-laden vehicle approaching from Kohistan hit the bus,” Bisham Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Juma Rehman told Dawn. SDPO Rehman said that following the attack, the bus caught fire and fell into the ravine.
“A huge amount of explosives were used in the attack, the force of which threw the bus into the ravine,” he said. The officer said that police cordoned off the area to collect evidence. “We have also collected body parts of the suspected suicide bomber from the site,” SDPO Rehman said.
Soon after the bombing, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with his cabinet members visited the Chinese embassy to assure Beijing about security for its citizens and promise a comprehensive probe into the suicide bombing.
On Wednesday, the government reiterated its resolve to comprehensively combat terrorism by employing all resources available to the state and bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly. In response to the Chinese government’s demand to promptly investigate the incident and act against those involved, the government also decided to form a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the attack.
