The 2 masterminds behind the attack that killed 13 people, including 9 Chinese engineers, were killed in an attack in Sahiwal today.
They were among five prisoners who were moved from a prison in a police van due to a security threat.
The two died in an exchange of fire between militants and the police.
They were involved in masterminding a bomb blast aimed at a bus carrying around 30 Chinese engineers to the Dasu Dam in Upper Kohistan, in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This dam is part of the USD 65 billion CPEC project that aims to link China with the Arabian deep seaport of Gwadar.
The killings came close on the heels of a suicide bombing in Karachi that targeted Chinese engineers working with a power generation company in Port Qasim.
The killings came hours after gunmen lined up 21 coal miners at a cluster of private coal mines in Balochistan, and shot them dead, before attacking the mines with rocket launchers and grenades.
Pakistan is actively seeking to overhaul its energy grid matrix, with the aim of increasing hydroelectric and locally sourced coal power generation and expanding the share of electricity produced by nuclear power reactors.
Therefore, it is quite apparent that the ultimate targets of this spate of attacks remain:
- Mineral-rich mining regions of Pakistan
- Hydroelectric power plants
- Energy infrastructure
- Highly skilled foreign workers in the country
- Projects falling within the domain of CPEC
- Pakistani nuclear program
- China
The attacks come even as Arab countries rally the US to convince Israel not to bombard Iranian oil-producing sites after Israel has carried out crippling attacks on oil terminals at the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
Pakistan is also busy working out the security framework for the upcoming SCO Summit in Islamabad, where authorities continue to be preoccupied with the threat of attacks against Chinese nationals and against visiting dignitaries.
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