China, Pakistan vow to hunt down terrorists

Security personnel inspect the blast site of the terrorist attack inside a university in Karachi, Pakistan, April 26, 2022. (Photo/Xinhua)

China will work with Pakistan to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the bombing in Karachi, in southern Pakistan's Sindh province, that killed three Chinese citizens, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday.

A van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi was hit by a suicide attack on Tuesday, leaving three Chinese teachers dead and one injured and causing casualties among Pakistani citizens, the ministry said in a news release.

The attack was "premeditated and aimed at Chinese citizens", Wang said at a daily news conference, describing the attack as "extremely abominable and outrageous" and expressing China's "strong condemnation and indignation".

He expressed his condolences for the deaths of Chinese and Pakistani citizens and extended sympathies to the injured and the bereaved families.

Wang added that the Chinese consul-general in Karachi visited the injured Chinese citizen on Tuesday, who "has received proper treatment and is recovering".

The ministry and Chinese diplomatic missions in Pakistan immediately initiated their emergency response after the attack and sent staff to the scene, Wang said.

They asked the Pakistani side to do all it can to treat the injured and handle follow-up matters, investigate the attack immediately and thoroughly, and apprehend and punish the perpetrators to the full extent of the law, the spokesman said.

They also asked the Pakistani side to spare no efforts to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions in Pakistan, and never let such things happen again, according to Wang.

Wang called out on Chinese citizens in Pakistan to closely follow the local security situation and guard against security risks.

"The ironclad friendship between China and Pakistan is unbreakable. Any attempt to undermine the two countries' mutual trust and cooperation, as well as the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will fail," Wang said, answering a question on whether China is concerned that the threat of terrorism may affect its economic projects in Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the Chinese embassy in Pakistan on Tuesday evening to convey his condolences, and said the Pakistani government will conduct an in-depth probe and give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators, according to the Foreign Ministry's news release.

Shahbaz said the authorities in Sindh and Karachi have launched a full-scale investigation, and that his government will never allow any force to undermine Pakistan-China friendship.

According to Sichuan Normal University, one of the victims is Huang Guiping, whom it had sent to take up the post of Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi.

The Chinese International Education Foundation said in a statement that we "solemnly request that an investigation be launched into the atrocity and that all the perpetrators be held accountable according to law".