Explosion at Pakistan hotel: four people killed in car bombs outside the Quetta hotel where Chinese ambassador apparently stayed

Explosion at Pakistan hotel: four people killed in car bombs outside the Quetta hotel where Chinese ambassador apparently stayed

by
Quetta is the capital of the province of Balochistan, near the Afghan border. The province has seen a decades-long uprising by separatists demanding independence from Pakistan, citing what the state’s monopolization and exploitation of the province’s mineral resources is.

The blast outside the Serena Hotel took place late Wednesday night local time and rescue and security services are investigating the incident, Muhammad Akram, a rescue officer at the scene of the blast, told CNN.

The Serena Hotel is considered the safest hotel in Quetta and is usually the place where international development teams and diplomats prefer to stay.

“This incident occurred after Iftar (broke down quickly). The car was parked in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel,” Ziaullah Lango, provincial interior minister in Balochistan, told Reuters. “One of our police constables is among the injured.”

Footage and photos of the scene show vehicles burning in the hotel’s parking lot and the smoke from the explosion raging.

The Pakistani Taliban, a militant group known as Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the bombing. In an email received by CNN, TTP spokesman Muhammad Khurassani said it was a “suicide attack carried out by a TTP bomber on a car” and that “further details will be shared soon.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong was staying at the hotel but was not there when the bomb exploded, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told Reuters on Wednesday.

Smoke blows from burning vehicles at the site of the bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, on April 21, 2021.

Lango, the provincial interior minister, said the ambassador was “in a good mood” and would continue his activities on Thursday. “He also said he would only leave after completing his tour,” Lango said.

It was not clear if the envoy or members of his delegation were the target of the attack, but Chinese citizens and their interests in the region had been attacked by militants before.

Last year, the Pakistani stock exchange in Karachi was targeted in an attack demanded by the separatist group the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which said the attack was aimed at China’s economic interests “in retaliation for Chinese exploitation plans in Balochistan. “
In 2018, the BLA claims another attack in which armed attackers try to storm the Chinese consulate in Karachi and kill four people, saying it will not tolerate any Chinese military expansionist efforts.
In October 2020, an attack by an umbrella organization of Baloch militant groups, Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), in Gwadar on a convoy of the state-owned Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL), killed 14 people. And in 2019, five people were killed in a similar attack on a luxury hotel also in the city of Gwadar, where Chinese workers were staying.

In 2015, under Beijing’s Belt and Road trade and infrastructure scheme, China transformed the Gwadar of Balochistan into the deepest seaport in the world. The coastal town is now a hub of Chinese investment in Pakistan.

Journalist Saleem Mehsud reported on Islamabad.

.Source