A PAKISTANI separatist group claimed responsibility for a late night bombing that targeted a convoy with Chinese nationals outside the country’s largest airport, killing two workers from China and wounding eight people, officials and the insurgent group said today.

The attack by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) outside the airport in the southern port city of Karachi was the latest deadly assault on Chinese in the country and came a week before Pakistan is to host a summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, a grouping founded by China and Russia.

The explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also raised questions about the ability of Pakistani forces to secure high-profile events or foreigners in the country. 

Among the wounded were also police officers who were escorting the Chinese convoy when the attack happened.

Initially, Pakistani authorities gave conflicting details and said that the explosion may have been from an oil tanker but police later confirmed it was a bomb attack.

Pakistani news channels broadcast videos of flames engulfing cars and a thick column of smoke rising from the scene. 

The spokesman for the separatist group, Junaid Baloch, said today that one of their suicide bombers targeted the convoy of Chinese engineers and investors as they left the airport. 

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad said that Chinese staffers working at the Port Qasim Electric Power Company were in the convoy when it came under attack late on Sunday. 

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that he was shocked and saddened, describing the attackers as “enemies of Pakistan” and promising the perpetrators would be punished.

“I strongly condemn this heinous act and offer my heartfelt condolences to the Chinese leadership and the people of China, particularly the families of the victims,” he wrote on the X social media platform.

“Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends. We will leave no stone unturned to ensure their security and well-being,” he said.