On 14 July 2021, a bus carrying Chinese workers in the
Dasu
Dasu or Dassu (Abasin Kohistani, Urdu and ps, ) is the district headquarters of Upper Kohistan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It had 15 Union councils of Pakistan, Union Councils before the separation of the Kandia valley. Since its be ...
area of
Upper Kohistan District
Upper Kohistan District ( Kohistani, ur, ) is a district in Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.
Overview and history
In 2014, the government bifurcated Kohistan District into two districts namely Upper Kohistan and Lo ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, fell into a ravine after an explosion, killing 13 people, including nine Chinese citizens and four Pakistanis, and injured 28 others.
The bombing
The site of the bombing was near a hydroelectric project where Chinese and Pakistani workers had been working together for several years. The bus fell into a
ravine
A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Muhammad Hasnain and Muhammed Ayaz, who were identified as
Pakistani Taliban
The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...
members and masterminds of the attack, were arrested and sentenced to death in November 2022.
Background to the assassination
An editorial in the
Global Times
The ''Global Times'' () is a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the '' People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese ultra-nationalistic perspective. The pub ...
, the official newspaper of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...
, described the bombing as a carefully planned act of
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
, the worst attack on Chinese citizens in recent years.
On 12 August 2021, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that " Afghanistan’s soil was used for the terrorist attack and the investigators were “clearly looking at the traces of its planning and executing meeting with the nexus of NDS and RAW revealing 'Indian-Afghan nexus' behind this attack".