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Blast kills two Chinese near Pakistan’s Karachi airport

Two Chinese nation­als have been killed and at least 10 people injured in a suspected suicide attack near Karachi airport in Pakistan.

A third body, not yet offi­cially identified, is thought to be that of the attacker, the BBC understands.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said the explosion on Sunday night was a “terrorist attack” targeting a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a power project in Sindh province.

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has in recent years carried out attacks on Chinese nation­als involved in development projects in Pakistan, has said it carried out the attack.

In a statement released on Monday, the militant group said it had “targeted a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors” arriv­ing from Karachi airport.

A later statement from the group described it as a suicide attack, and named the perpe­trator as Shah Fahad, part of a BLA suicide squad called Majeed Brigade.

The attack was carried out using a “vehicle-borne improvised explosive device”, Reuters news agency quoted the BLA as saying.

The explosion happened around 23:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attack a “heinous act” and offered his condolences to the Chinese people.

—BBC

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