Karachi Suicide Bomb Kills Three Chinese Teachers: Female Perpetrator, Beijing Seeks Pakistan Protection Guarantee

Security personnel stand guard at the site of the suicide bombing. (Twitter/@NazBaloch_)

JAKARTA - A suicide bombing exploded in Karachi, killing three Chinese teachers and drawing strong criticism from Beijing, in the first major attack this year against citizens of Pakistan's longtime ally, the alleged perpetrator is a woman.

The three victims were among passengers on a minibus returning to Karachi University after a lunch break, when a bomb exploded at the entrance to the Confucius Institute, killing Chinese teachers and a Pakistani national, police and officials said.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said "the reports we received say they are Chinese." He added that they were teachers at the Confucius Institute, a center for Chinese language and culture.

"The information we got was that the female bomber was most likely a student at the university," Memon told Geo News TV.

In addition to the dead, a guard and another Chinese national were also injured in the minibus.

Media showed CCTV footage of a woman dressed in black wearing a backpack standing near the bus just before the bomb exploded and sent a cloud of fire and smoke. Police did not verify the footage.

Pakistani media also showed a damaged minibus with shrapnel holes. Witnesses said the explosion was so big it rattled the windows of other buildings on the sprawling campus.

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) group based in southwest Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, claimed responsibility for the blast, adding in an email to Reuters that the attack was carried out by a female suicide bomber.

In the photo they sent, they show a woman wearing a long scarf sitting with two children. The photo could not be independently verified by police or other officials.

The bombing was the first major attack on a Chinese national in Pakistan since July last year, when a suicide bomber detonated a passenger bus in northern Pakistan killing 13 people, including nine Chinese who worked at a hydroelectric power station.

Another attack on Chinese workers in Pakistan has occurred in Balochistan province, where separatist insurgents have waged an insurgency against authorities for decades.

Balochistan has a deep-sea port in the city of Gwadar which Beijing developed under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project as part of President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative to expand trade ties.

Regarding this suicide bombing, China's Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack, "demands" Pakistan to punish the perpetrators, protect Chinese citizens and prevent similar incidents from happening again.

"The blood of the Chinese people must not be shed in vain, and those behind this incident will definitely pay the price," the ministry said in a statement.

The incident poses a major challenge to Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who took office this month. He condemned what he called a cowardly act of terrorism.

"I am deeply saddened by the loss of precious lives including our Chinese friends in today's heinous attack in Karachi," Sharif said in a statement. He promised a speedy investigation.

The Baloch separatists, who say they are fighting for a bigger share in regional mining and mineral resources, usually attack gas projects, infrastructure, and security forces.

They also attack Chinese projects and workers despite assurances from Pakistan that they are doing everything in their power to protect the projects.