The Chinese administration has said that it supported Pakistan’s efforts to investigate the Bisham attack, which killed five Chinese engineers and a local in March, and punish the perpetrators of the crime.

“China supports Pakistan in continuing to get to the full bottom of what happened, and hunting down and bringing to justice all the perpetrators,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing on Monday.

At least five Chinese nationals were killed in an explosion when their convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 26. The convoy of Chinese engineers was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu.

Dasu is the site of a major dam and the area has been attacked in the past. A blast on a bus had killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, in 2021.

The Chinese government had demanded a thorough investigation into the deadly attack on a bus carrying its nationals working on the Dasu hydropower project and called for enhanced security measures to protect its citizens in Pakistan.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson was asked about Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s Sunday press conference where he claimed that the attack on Chinese citizens in Bisham, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was carried out using Afghan territory.

He demanded the interim Afghan government arrest three alleged terrorists named Bakhtiar Shah, Qari Abdullah and Khan Lala, along with banned TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud, its Malakand Commander Azmatullah and the entire leadership of the outlawed group for their involvement in the attack.

In response to the query, Ning said that China attached “great importance” to the progress made by the Pakistani side on the investigation of the terrorist attack.

China would continue to work with Pakistan to strengthen security cooperation and ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions in Pakistan, she added.

In April, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered at least five senior police officials to be punished for negligence over the attack.

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In an interview with Aaj News last month, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong stressed the need for linking economic and security cooperation.

Both countries have described terrorism as a common threat to regional development and stability.

“China calls on countries in the region to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation, root out all terrorist organizations, remove their breeding ground, and protect the common security and development interests of all countries,” Ning said.