Pakistan says suicide attack that killed Chinese engineers was planned in Afghanistan

Pakistan’s military said on Tuesday that a suicide bomb attack that killed five Chinese engineers in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan, and that the bomber was also an Afghan national.

The suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in northwest Pakistan, killing six people.

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“The entire attack was planned in Afghanistan, the car used in it was also prepared in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national,” Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Ahmed Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.

Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have soured in recent months with Islamabad saying the Taliban-run administration in Kabul is not doing enough to tackle militant groups targeting Pakistan.

Islamabad has gone as far as to say some elements in the Taliban are facilitating the extremist militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - which is not affiliated with the Taliban, but has long pledged loyalty to the Afghanistan-based movement.

Taliban officials deny this allegation.

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