ISLAMABAD — A powerful bomb blast in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi targeted a convoy transporting Chinese nationals late on Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others.
Police officials confirmed the casualties to local reporters in the attack near the city’s international airport. They stated without elaborating that investigations were underway to determine the nature of the blast and the exact losses it caused.
Television footage showed the explosion entirely or partially destroyed several vehicles.
Pakistan’s mainstream private ARY TV channel reported that "foreigners” were among the dead but did not name their nationalities. Authorities in Karachi, the capital of the Sindh province, did not immediately comment on whether foreign nationals were among the dead.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an insurgent group battling Pakistani security forces in the southwestern Balochistan province, took responsibility for the attack. It asserted in a statement sent to journalists that a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of “Chinese engineers and investors” departing the Karachi airport.
BLA, listed as a global terrorist group by the United States, has previously also targeted visitors from China in the largest Pakistani city. In April 2022, a BLA suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to her body near a van carrying Chinese teachers in Karachi, killing three of them and drawing strong condemnation from China.
The insurgent group claims it is fighting for Balochistan's independence and denounces China’s infrastructure investments in the natural resources-rich province, which houses the Chinese-operated deep-water strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. BLA accuses Beijing of helping Islamabad exploit the region’s resources.
Pakistan has long blamed rival India for backing Baloch insurgents, a charge the neighboring country denies.
Sunday’s bombing came as Pakistan prepares to host a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization October 15-16. Officials have said that Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang is scheduled to visit Islamabad for bilateral talks before the gathering.
