PAKISTAN: TWO GET DEATH FOR ATTACK TARGETING CHINESE ENGINEERS

November 15, 2022:

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has awarded death sentences to two men accused of killing 13 people in a suicide attack last year, including nine Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project.
Four Pakistani nationals were also killed in the July 2021 attack when a bus carrying them fell into a ravine following an explosion, which also left more than 20 people injured.
The bus was carrying the workers to the Dasu Hydropower Project in Upper Kohistan, a region in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistan’s then foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said the attack was carried out by members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an armed group also known as the Pakistani Taliban.
Qureshi had also alleged the attack was planned in Afghanistan.
In a press release on Monday, police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said the court delivered its verdict last week, issuing the death penalty on 13 counts to Muhammad Hasnain and Muhammed Ayaz.
Addressing a news conference in Abbottabad city on Monday, police officials said four accused men were acquitted in the case due to a lack of evidence against them. They added that four other suspected attackers may have sought refuge in Afghanistan.
In a statement on Monday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the verdict demonstrated Pakistan’s “abiding commitment to counterterrorism”.
“We again extend our deepest condolences to the victims’ families and remain committed to the safety and security of Chinese workers, projects and institutions in Pakistan,” the statement said.