By Adil Jawad | Associated Press
KARACHI, Pakistan — A suicide bomber targeted a van carrying Japanese nationals in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Friday, police said. The Japanese nationals escaped unharmed, but authorities later said a bystander was killed.
Initially, police said the van was heading toward an industrial area where the five Japanese nationals worked when it was attacked, local police chief Arshad Awan said. The police who were escorting the Japanese responded, killing a second attacker, an accomplice of the suicide bomber, he added.
“All Japanese who were targeted in the attack are safe,” Awan added.
Police initially said the five worked at Pakistan Suzuki Motors, but later corrected that statement saying it was another factory.
Footage broadcast on local news channels showed a damaged van as police arrived at the scene. The three bystanders injured in the attack were taken to hospital, where one of them later died. The other two are said to be in stable condition.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the attack in separate statements, praised police for their quick response and pledged to eliminate terrorism. They also offered prayers for the victims.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Japanese nationals were not injured and said it “strongly condemns this heinous act of terrorism.” All necessary measures will be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Pakistan remains committed to ensuring the security of foreign nationals residing in the country,” the ministry said.
The ministry said two Pakistani nationals were killed in Friday’s attack, contradicting statements by police and hospital officials that one of the three injured had died. The discrepancy could not be immediately resolved.
The van was escorted by police following reports of possible attacks targeting foreigners working in Pakistan on various Chinese-funded and other projects, said Tariq Mastoi, a senior police officer. He said a quick and timely response by guards and police foiled the attack and both attackers were killed.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on separatists or the Pakistani Taliban, who have increased attacks on security forces in recent years.
The insurgents have also targeted Chinese working in Pakistan on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which includes a host of mega projects such as building roads, power plants and agriculture.
In March, five Chinese people and their Pakistani driver were killed when a suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan rammed his explosives-laden car into a vehicle as they headed toward the Dasu Dam, China’s largest project. hydroelectric power plant in Pakistan, where they worked.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, is the capital of the southern province of Sindh.
Separately, an Afghan Taliban religious scholar, Mohammad Omar Jan Akhundzada, was killed on Thursday by gunmen inside a mosque in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, said a local police officer, Akram Ullah.
No one has claimed responsibility for this attack.
Afghan Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denounced Akhundzada’s killing on Friday, saying he taught at a jihadist seminary in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and was a member of the Islamic Scholars Monitoring Committee Taliban.
Many Afghan leaders and scholars lived in Quetta and elsewhere in Pakistan before the Afghan Taliban took control of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew. Most then returned home and it was unclear why Akhundzada was still in Pakistan.
Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar contributed to this story from Quetta, Pakistan.
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