The suicide bomber who killed three Chinese teachers was herself a teacher who had enrolled in a master’s degree months before the attack.
A suicide bomber who has killed three Chinese teachers in Pakistan she was herself a teacher who had enrolled in a master’s degree months before the attack, carried out on behalf of separatist rebels, a Pakistani official says,
The blast set off by the 30-year-old woman on Tuesday blew up a minivan outside Karachi University’s Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural center, killing her, three Chinese professors and a Pakistani driver.
It was the first major attack this year against citizens of China, a longtime ally, working in Pakistan, and drew condemnation from Beijing.
A separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), based in the southwestern province of Balochistan, said the mother of two, who had a postgraduate degree in zoology and was studying for another, had volunteered. for the attack on China, whose investment projects in Balochistan they oppose.
“The Baloch Liberation Army once again warns China to immediately stop its exploitation projects… Otherwise, our future attacks will be even harsher,” the BLA said in an email.
Baloch separatist fighters have been fighting for a bigger share of his province’s natural resources for decades, focusing primarily on attacks on natural gas projects, infrastructure, and security forces.
But in recent years they have attacked Chinese projects and workers. Baluchistan and its deepwater port at Gwadar are an important link in China Belt and Road Network of infrastructure and energy projects that extend to the Middle East and beyond.
A Pakistani Interior Ministry official who declined to be identified said the woman, a science teacher from Balochistan, enrolled for a second master’s degree at the University of Karachi about five months ago, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday. .
#Baloch Liberation Army issues more details about the first female suicide bomber who killed 3 Chinese in #University of Karachi.#BLA says her name is Shari Baloch, whose husband is a doctor and has 2 children.
It shows to what extent Baluch separatists could become independent from #Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/wVRIBN8zhD
— Bashir Ahmad Gwakh (@bashirgwakh) April 26, 2022
Police and civilian and military intelligence agencies have launched an investigation, the official said.
For years, suicide bombings in Pakistan have been a tactic by Muslim armed groups, usually carried out by men or boys. Baloch separatists said this was their first suicide attack on a woman and warned of more.
The threat of suicide attacks by the BLA will be of great concern to Pakistan as it tries to reassure China that it is doing everything it can to protect its projects and its people.
China strongly condemned the attack and demanded that Pakistan punish the perpetrators and prevent such incidents from happening again.
“The blood of the Chinese people must not be shed in vain, and those behind this incident will surely pay the price,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Karachi, Nasira Khatoon, expressed “deepest condolences” to the families of the blast victims, saying the campus would remain closed on Wednesday.
“We hope that the government will punish the elements involved … and we believe that all possible measures will be taken to reach the elements behind the attack,” he said.