Security personnel inspect the site of a suicide attack near Besham city in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on March 26, 2024. Five Chinese nationals working on the Dasu hydropower plant were killed along with their driver on March 26 when a suicide bomber targeted their vehicle in northwest Pakistan, officials said. Photo: AFP

The remains of the five Chinese victims who were killed in the terrorist attack on the Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan were brought back to China on a Pakistani military plane, escorted by Pakistani high-level officials and a working group from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on Monday.

The five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in a suicide terrorist attack on March 26 at the China-invested Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On March 29, China's inter-agency working group to Pakistan and diplomats from the Embassy in Pakistan visited relevant hospital in Rawalpindi city, Punjab province in eastern Pakistan to mourn the five Chinese victims and convey sympathies and support from the Party and the Government to the staff of the Chinese companies present there, Wang said.

Wang emphasized that China firmly supports Pakistan in looking into what happened with utmost resolve and effort, bring the perpetrators and whoever's behind the attack to justice and do everything possible to protect the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan.

On Sunday evening, the Pakistani government held a farewell ceremony for the five Chinese citizens who died in the terrorist attack at the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong, Pakistani officials, diplomats from the Chinese Embassy and representatives of Chinese enterprises in Pakistan attended the ceremony, according to a release from the Chinese Embassy to Pakistan.

Jiang said in a speech at the ceremony that the Chinese compatriots who were in the flower of their youth, came all the way to Pakistan from afar and have made important contributions to promoting Pakistan's development and advancing China-Pakistan friendship and cooperation.

He said that the Chinese side hopes and believes the Pakistani side will speed up the investigation, strengthen its counterterrorism efforts and take all measures to ensure the security of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in Pakistan.

"We stand ready to work with the Pakistani side to unwaveringly promote our all-weather strategic cooperation to accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future," said the Chinese ambassador.

Chaudhry Salik Hussain, federal minister for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development, expressed deep condolences to the victims at the ceremony. He strongly condemned the terrorist attack and said that Pakistan has always stood with the Chinese government and people.

Pakistan will thoroughly investigate the incident and find out the truth as soon as possible and bring the perpetrators to justice, he said, adding that any attempt to undermine the friendship between Pakistan and China will be doomed to failure.

Global Times-Xinhua