Two Pakistanis are in police custody after a car bomb attack killed three Chinese engineers helping to develop a seaport, officials said yesterday.
The two suspects were seized in Gwadar, the southwestern town where an explosives-filled car was blown up by remote control as a van carrying 12 Chinese engineers and technicians passed early Monday.
"We have arrested two people in Gwadar in relation to the blast," police officer Abdul Qayum said in a telephone interview. "The two are being interrogated, but it is too early to give details." He refused to identify the suspects further.
Nine other Chinese workers from the China Engineering Harbour Company, which is overseeing the US$248 million port project, were wounded in the blast. The Pakistani driver and a Pakistani guard also suffered burn injuries.
China, Pakistan's strongest and oldest ally, is financing $199 million of the project.
The company has about 400 employees living at Gwadar, close to the border with Iran and 480km west of Karachi.
In May 2002, 11 French naval technicians and three Pakistanis were killed in car-bomb attacks. One month later the US consulate was attacked, and 12 Pakistanis were killed.
Police suspect the attackers of the Chinese were either Islamic extremists or groups from surrounding Baluchistan province, angry that workers from other provinces or countries are taking most of the jobs at the port.
The bodies of the Chinese were flown to Karachi on Monday and were being kept at the Pakistan Navy's hospital ship.
Chinese consular officials said they were in touch with the victims' families to determine when their bodies would be flown home.
The injured were evacuated to Karachi's Aga Khan hospital, where they are being treated for burn injuries.
"All the injured are now out of danger," Communications Minister Babar Ghouri said.
Baluchistan Police Chief Shoib Suddle, said the attackers appeared to have been "trained in blowing up the car by remote control."
President Pervez Musharraf wrote to his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to condemn the attack.
"The government and people of Pakistan strongly condemn this barbaric act of terrorism and will never allow a few terrorists to undermine Pakistan-China friendship and cooperation," he said.
Chinese Consul General Sun Ghun Ye said none of the other engineers would abandon the project.
"It's a tragic incident, as three Chinese engineers have lost their lives, but all engineers are in high spirits and no one is leaving," Ye told reporters at Aga Khan Hospital late Monday.
"We will complete the project and we will not suspend the work ... China and Pakistan are tied in a strong bond of friendship, which will continue."
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