ISLAMABAD (Reuters): At least three people, including two Chinese nationals, were killed and 17 people injured in an explosion near the airport of Karachi on Sunday night, Geo TV reported.
The blast was reported near the airport signal. The nature of the blast was not immediately clear, but later police officers confirmed that it was a terror attack, targeting Chinese nationals.
A police officer said that initially it was not known whether it was a terrorist activity or an explosion in an oil tanker which had also caught fire near the traffic signal.
Law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and shifted the injured to hospitals.
In a statement emailed to journalists, the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the explosion was an attack carried out by them using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeting Chinese nationals, including engineers, according to Reuters.
In August, BLA launched coordinated attacks in the province, in which more than 70 people were killed.
BLA specifically targets Chinese interests – in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad exploit the province. It has killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing’s consulate in Karachi.
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