KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - A car bomb shattered a bus carrying Chinese engineers to a port project in remote southwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing three in what the government called a terrorist attack. The attack occurred as the bus was taking at least 12 Chinese to the port, said Sattar Lasi, the chief of police in Gawadar. The site is about 300 miles west of Karachi, near the border with Iran.
"This is clearly terrorism. The aim was to terrorize the Chinese working at the Gawadar port," said Lal Jan, another senior police official.
| Brilliant, Inspector, brilliant! |
Islamic militant groups have targeted foreigners in the past, but never in such a remote part of the country.
Shoaib Suddle, the police chief in Baluchishtan province, said it appeared the bomb was triggered by remote control. Police investigators found fuses and pieces of a cylinder that contained the bomb in the white Suzuki car, said Communications Minister Babar Khan Ghauri. Only the skeleton of the car remained, and the bus also was heavily damaged, with windows shattered and metal twisted, he said.
Ghafoor Baluch, a fisherman who lives near the scene of the attack, said the explosion shook the walls of his home. "We saw pieces of metal from the car strewn on the beach and stuck in nearby trees," he said. The explosion left a four-foot crater and smashed the front of the bus, he said.
Hours after the blast, Mohammed Sattar, a police official in Gawadar said they detained two residents for questioning, and that the car, which was used for the attack, had been stolen from Karachi. Sattar gave no other details, and it was unclear what prompted the police to arrest the men.
| Turban, beard, AK, shifty eyes, possessing fuses, C-4, cell phone and primer cord: that's half the male population. Wonder how they figured it out? |
Lasi said 11 others were injured - nine of them Chinese. The others were a Pakistani driver and security guard.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali condemned the attack and ordered authorities to tighten security.
| "Legume! Round up the usual suspects!" |
In Beijing, the Chinese government demanded Pakistan investigate the attack and directed its diplomatic missions in Pakistan to help the victims. "The Chinese government attaches a high degree of importance to this incident," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. China is an important ally of Pakistan and one of its chief trading partners.
| Let this happen again Perv, and just see how many more Chinese nuclear components you get. |
The Chinese all worked for China Harbor Engineering Co., which has been working on the Gawadar project since 2002. The company asked Pakistani authorities to increase security, but said it had no plans to suspend work. |