In a rare rebuke to Pakistan, China has asked it to take adequate measures to upgrade security mechanisms and protect nationals following a suicide blast targeting a convoy of Chinese engineers working on the Gwadar port project in the troubled Baluchistan province late on Friday night. – File photo

New Delhi, August 21

In a rare rebuke to Pakistan, China has asked it to take adequate measures to upgrade security mechanisms and protect nationals following a suicide blast targeting a convoy of Chinese engineers working on the Gwadar port project in the troubled Baluchistan province late on Friday night.

China urged Pakistan’s “relevant departments at all levels” to investigate the matter and severely punish the perpetrator. The Chinese Embassy statement also asked Pakistan officials to take practical and effective measures “to accelerate, to implement, (and) strengthen whole-process security measures and upgrade security cooperation mechanisms to ensure that similar incidents do not happen”.

Chinese and Pakistani media outlets have reported the death of two children and injuries to one Chinese worker. The Pakistan Interior Ministry said the suicide bomber targeted a convoy of three vehicles carrying Chinese nationals and a police contingent. The investigating team is also due to identify the nature of the blast.

This was a much stronger reaction than the previous one by Beijing to an attack on a bus last month in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that killed nine Chinese engineers working on a dam project which, like Gwadar, is part of the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. — TNS