At least five Chinese nationals were among the six persons killed on Tuesday when an explosives-packed vehicle rammed into their bus in Pakistan’s troubled province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said, in the second suicide attack on the personnel working on the China-backed hydropower project since 2021.

The Chinese were working on the Dasu hydropower project, which is about 300 km to the north of Islamabad. The 4,320 MW project is being constructed by the China Gezhouba with funding from the World Bank.

In Tuesday’s attack, several others were injured in the incident that occurred in the Bisham area of Shangla district of the province when a bus, escorted by a five-vehicle convoy, en route from Islamabad to Kohistan was hit by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction in the hilly terrain, the police said. The incident occurred at around 1 pm (local time).

One of the vehicles of the 13-vehicle convoy caught fire and fell into a ravine, following the attack, China’s Xinhua news agency said, quoting the sources. Senior police officer Muhammad Ali Gandapur confirmed the incident and the death toll, adding that apparently, it was a suicide attack. “Five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in the attack,” Gandapur told the media.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The police and officials of other security agencies rushed to the scene of the attack and launched a probe into the incident. The Pakistan Army said that strategic projects and sensitive sites vital for Pakistan’s economic progress are being targeted as a conscious effort to slow progress and sow discord between Pakistan and its strategic allies and partners, most notably China.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the attack was “orchestrated by the enemies of Pakistan-China friendship” and added that “Such dastardly acts cannot dent the resolve of Pakistani nation to fight against the scourge of terrorism”.

The Chinese embassy here announced taking all necessary measures to protect the Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan, and to ensure such incidents will not happen again. This is the second such attack that has killed Chinese nationals since 2021.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and interior minister Mohsin Naqvi rushed to the embassy here and met the Chinese ambassador, Jiang Zaidong.

Naqvi offered condolences and also assured the envoy that the Pakistan government would bring the perpetrators to justice. President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the attack and said, “Anti-Pakistan elements will never succeed in damaging Pak-China friendship.”

Chief minister of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Ali Amin Gandapur, also condemned the suicide attack and sought a report from the provincial police chief into the attack on the Chinese vehicle.