Pakistan: Four Tehreek-e-Taliban operatives linked to killing of Chinese nationals arrested
Apr 29, 2024
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 29 : The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) announced significant progress on Monday, revealing the arrest of four key operatives affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) in connection with the Besham terror attack that claimed the lives of five Chinese nationals last month, ARY News reported.
The attack, which took place on March 26 in Bisham City in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Shangla district, claimed the lives of five Chinese engineers along with one Pakistani citizen.
"A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of foreign nationals that was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu, Shangla," the report quoted the district inspector general (DIG) of Malakand as saying on April 4.
According to ARY News, the arrested terrorists are associated with the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and have admitted to attacking Chinese nationals, as per CTD information.
Following this, the terrorists who took part in the attack on Chinese nationals have also been identified.
The joint committee of police CTD has sent its report to the federal government, which states that the attack was planned in Afghanistan, as per ARY News.
The report further said, the CCTV footage of the incident was availed, while investigation was underway if the jammers were activated to ensure the security of Chinese nationals during their movement.
It may be mentioned here that Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Chaudhry Salik Hussain arrived in Wuhan on a special plane that brought the mortal remains of five Chinese personnel, who died in a terrorist attack on March 26.
Recently, the preliminary investigation has revealed that neither their vehicle was bulletproof nor bombproof, Geo News reported.
The report reveals that the bus targeted in the attack was travelling at a distance of 15 feet from the other bus and fell into a 300-foot-deep ditch after a suicide bomber crashed his explosive-laden vehicle into the vehicle carrying the victims on the Karakoram Highway.
The report also notes that the buses transporting Chinese nationals were equipped with closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV), as per Geo News.
