IEA expresses ‘regret’ over death of Chinese in Pakistan bombing

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed regret over the death of several Chinese nationals who were killed in an attack on a civilian bus in the Shangla region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.

The IEA has also expressed its condolences to the Chinese and Pakistani governments for the casualties caused in the incident.

The ministry said on Wednesday that such incidents are an attempt directed at weakening regional cooperation and highlights that regional countries should not allow the opposition of regional cooperation to achieve their goals by making the region insecure.

This comes after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project on Tuesday. Six people were killed.

This is the third major attack on Chinese interests in the South Asian country in a week.

The first two attacks hit an airbase and a strategic port in the southwest province of Balochistan where China is investing billions in infrastructure projects.

The engineers killed Tuesday were on their way from Islamabad to their camp at the dam construction site in Dasu in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Dasu is the site of a major dam and the area has been attacked in the past. A blast on a bus killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, in 2021.