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The preliminary investigation into the Besham suicide attack on Chinese nationals has revealed that neither their vehicle was bulletproof nor bombproof, Geo News reported.
The attack, which took place on March 26 in Bisham City in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Shangla district, claimed the lives of five Chinese engineers along with one Pakistani citizen. "A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of foreign nationals that was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu, Shangla," the report quoted the district inspector general (DIG) of Malakand as saying on April 4. According to Geo News, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police sent a second report of the tragic incident to the federal government. The report reveals that the bus targeted in the attack was travelling at a distance of 15 feet from the other bus and fell into a 300-foot-deep ditch after a suicide bomber crashed his explosive-laden vehicle into the vehicle carrying the victims on the Karakoram Highway. The report also notes that the buses transporting Chinese nationals were equipped with closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV), as per Geo News. This development follows Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's directive, as per Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, to take disciplinary action against senior police officials for "negligence" following an inquiry report into the March 26 attack. Attaullah Tarar said this while speaking to the media in Lahore. that, "the PM has directed to take action against the regional police officer (RPO) Hazara Division; district police officers of Upper Kohistan and Lower Kohistan; director of security, Dasu Hydropower Project; and commandant special security unit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within 15 days." Additionally, the report said that authorities have collected the remains of the vehicle used by the assailant to target the Chinese convoy at the scene of the incident, situated approximately six or seven kilometres away from Bisham police station and Dassu dam, respectively. Earlier this week, Geo News, citing insider information, disclosed the "arrest" of over 10 terrorists and accomplices linked to the fatal attack by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). CTD sources further revealed that the terrorist leader, accountable for transporting the suicide bomber from Afghanistan to Pakistan, has been arrested, along with four other facilitators. The arrests came as the country's civil and military leadership reacted strongly to the attack, vowing that the perpetrators responsible for the heinous attack would be brought to justice. PM Shehbaz has directed authorities concerned to provide Chinese nationals with foolproof security in Pakistan via a comprehensive action plan for regular audits of security standard operating procedures. (ANI)
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