ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has sent an official to Kabul to review the findings of its investigation into a suicide bombing in March that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver from Afghanistan’s Taliban government, the State Department said Thursday.
Pakistan says the attack was planned in Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan national, and claims the Afghan Taliban government should be held responsible for the attack. The Afghan Taliban government has denied being in any way responsible.
According to a statement, Khurram Agha, a top bureaucrat at the Ministry of Interior in Islamabad, shared the findings with Afghanistan’s Deputy Interior Minister Muhammad Nabi Omari. It said Agha traveled to the capital of Afghanistan on behalf of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The March 26 attack took place as the group of Chinese was on its way to the Dasu Dam, the largest hydropower project in Pakistan, where they were working.
The statement also said that Pakistan has sought Afghanistan’s help in arresting the perpetrators.
Regarding the Kabul talks, the ministry said that “the Afghan side reiterated its commitment to prevent the use of Afghan territory for terrorist activities against other countries, including Pakistan.” It also added that the Taliban “agreed to investigate the findings of the Pakistani investigation.”
Further details were not immediately available.
Thousands of Chinese nationals are working in Pakistan on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridorincluding one many mega projects such as road construction, power plants and agriculture.