A suicide bombing at a five-star hotel in southwest Pakistan killed at least four people and wounded 12 others, officials said Wednesday, according to the New York Times Web site Thursday. The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan may have narrowly escaped the blast by minutes.
Reports say Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong, who was leading a Chinese delegation to the region, was staying at the Serena Hotel in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, where the accident occurred.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. A statement issued by the group said a suicide bomber attempted to attack a meeting of “locals and foreigners” at the Serena Hotel.
An intelligence official, who asked not to be named because of security concerns, said the Chinese ambassador had attended a dinner with senior Pakistani military officers and was on his way back to the hotel, which was only minutes away when the explosion occurred.
Baloch separatists are known to regularly attack Chinese in the area. In 2019, a luxury hotel in Gwadar, a town on the province’s coast where China is building a deep-water port project, was attacked by Baloch separatists.
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