Chinese national among three wounded in Karachi bombing

A roadside bombing in the southern port city of Karachi wounded three people, including a Chinese national, a Pakistani police official said.

A Chinese national was among three people injured in a roadside bombing in Karachi on Monday.

Pakistani security officials examine a vehicle attacked in Karachi on Monday. (AP Photo)

Taliban splinter group Jamatul Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack on the vehicle of a Chinese engineer in Steel Town area , adding to the confusion as to who carried out the bombing. Local police had said earlier that nationalists opposed to the Chinese presence in the area were behind the attack.

In a mail sent to the media, Jamatul Ahrar spokesperson Ihsanullah Ihsan said the group carried out the attack as part of its “Alraad Operation” in which the economic and military assets of Pakistan would be targeted.

The 25-year-old Chinese man, identified as Finche, and his driver were wounded in the attack. Sindh police chief Allah Dino Khawaja said both were out of danger. “Apparently, the attack was aimed at the Chinese national,” Khawaja said.

The low-intensity bomb shattered the windows of the van the men were travelling in. Police had said earlier that a pamphlet signed by the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army, an ethnic Sindhi separatist group, was found at the site.

In November last year, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assured that the government will provide full security to Chinese workers in Pakistan. “China is a close friend to Pakistan besides being a strategic partner and the government will provide full security to the Chinese workers in Pakistan,” Sharif had said while chairing a review meeting in Islamabad to monitor progress on projects related to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).