Bodies of Chinese engineers brought to Karachi

The bodies of the three Chinese killed in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan were brought to a hospital early Thursday morning in the country's southern city of Karachi.

The bodies will be brought back to China by a chartered plane in a few days, according to consulate officials. 11 Chinese working in the Hub area also arrived in Karachi.

Three Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed on Wednesday afternoon when their car were attacked by gunmen on a road in the town of Hub, some 700 km southeast of Quetta, the Balochistan provincial capital. Three other Chinese also in the car survived with no injury.

As soon as informed of the incident, the Chinese consulate called on relevant Pakistani authorities and sent a three-person team to the site. After hours' traveling, the team brought the bodies and the 11 Chinese back to Karachi.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, the Pakistani government strongly condemned the killing of the Chinese engineers.

"The people and government of Pakistan condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing of Chinese engineers," said Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam in the statement.

She said that the people and government of Pakistan expressed their heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.

She said the government of Pakistan also expressed its resolve to enhance security for the protection of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan and assured that government would take all possible measures to prevent such dastardly acts in future.

"The killing of three Chinese engineers is an act of terrorism carried out to create a wedge between Pakistan and China," she said. "The government of Pakistan is determined not to let them succeed in their reprehensible objective."

The spokesperson said the law enforcement agencies were taking steps to quickly apprehend the culprits and bring them to justice.

She said the people and government of Pakistan "salute the Chinese engineers who laid down their lives for development activities in Pakistan."

Meanwhile, the Baloch Liberation Army has accepted responsibility of the attack, according to a Geo TV report. One unidentified man phoned journalists in Quetta and took responsibility of the shooting.

Source: Xinhua