Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 13: A convoy of the Chinese engineers with security cover by the Pakistani army was attacked by a suicide squad of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in Gwadar on Sunday.
The BLA claimed that at least four Chinese engineers and nine Pakistani army personnel were killed in the attack before the BLA volunteers “committed suicide.” The official sources, however, till late evening did not confirm any casualty of the Chinese engineers or the Pakistani army personnel while claiming that the two terrorists were “shot dead.”
The Chinese engineers were working at the China-financed Gwadar port in Pakistan. “BLA Majeed Brigade today targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in Gwadar. The attack is still ongoing,” the separatist group said in a statement.
The BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said two ‘fidayeens’ of BLA Majeed Brigade, Naveed Baloch alias Aslam Baloch of Dasht Nigor and Maqbool Baloch alias Qayim Baloch of Geshkor Awaran, targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in Gwadar today in a self-sacrificing operation.” He further said the operation, “ZirPahazag” continued for more than two hours.
“According to the information received so far, at least four Chinese nationals and nine personnel of Pakistani military, were killed and several were injured. This is preliminary information and the number of enemy losses could rise,” Jeeyand claimed. As per Jeeyand, after the successful execution of the operation, the BLA fighters chose their last bullets to end their own lives.
The attack on the convoy of Chinese engineers happened at around 9:30 am and an intense gunfight was underway for nearly two hours, some local media reported. It said Pakistani security forces killed two terrorists in the gunfight. Two Pakistani security personnel were also injured when a convoy of engineers working for a Chinese construction company came under attack on Faqeer Bridge in Gwadar, it said and added that other terrorists fled the spot in an injured condition.
Giving further details of the attack, Chinese media said the convoy of three SUVs and a van, all bulletproof, carried 23 Chinese personnel. An IED exploded during the attack and the van was shot at, creating cracks in the glass. The Chinese Consulate General in Pakistan’s Karachi issued a safety warning on Sunday following the incident. The consulate urged people to maintain high vigilance and strictly control large-scale gathering activities due to the severe security situation.
Notably, Gwadar port is one of the focal points of the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with many Chinese workers working at the port. China is investing heavily in Balochistan under the CPEC.
A large number of Chinese are currently working in Gwadar, the port in restive Balochistan province which is being linked to China’s Xinjiang province as part of the $60 billion so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC.
The BLA opposes the Chinese investments in the region, saying they do not benefit the local people. The BLA has attacked CPEC-linked projects in the past too.
“I strongly condemn the heinous terror attack on Chinese workers convoy in Gwadar. Thankfully, no loss of life happened, but there are reports that the ambush has been repulsed, and the attackers have been killed,” Pakistani senator Sarfraz Bugti posted on X, formerly Twitter. “The ruptures within the militants’ fold are getting wider by the day as our armed forces are courageously thwarting their nefarious designs. There is no reprieve for anyone who casts an evil eye on Pakistan,” Bugti said.
India has protested the CPEC project as it runs through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), which is part of Jammu and Kashmir and therefore Indian territory. China has claimed the plan had nothing to do with territorial disputes.
Baloch separatists frequently exaggerate their battlefield successes, while the Pakistan military’s public relations department also plays down attacks, or delays reporting them. Three Chinese academics and their Pakistani driver were killed when a woman suicide bomber detonated her device as they were driving into the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute in April 2022. The BLA had claimed responsibility for that attack.