(): Pakistan on Thursday said that the “enemies” of its friendship with China were responsible for the “heinous” terrorist attack which killed five Chinese nationals and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

At least five Chinese nationals, working on the Dasu hydropower project, and the driver of the vehicle they were travelling in were killed on Tuesday when an explosives-packed vehicle rammed into their bus in Shangla district in the troubled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, in the second suicide attack on the personnel working on the China-backed hydropower project since 2021.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, addressing the weekly press briefing, said that Pakistan was in contact with the Chinese government regarding the “heinous attack.”

“Pakistan and China are close friends and iron brothers. We have no doubt that the Bisham terror attack was orchestrated by the enemies of Pakistan-China friendship,” she said without identifying the enemies. She said Pakistan is “fully committed to bringing terrorists, and their facilitators and abettors to justice.”

“Such despicable attacks further strengthen Pakistan’s resolve in combating terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations,” the FO spokesperson said. She said that Pakistan and China would together resolutely act against terrorists and defeat them.

“Pakistan will continue to work with our Chinese brothers in ensuring the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan,” she said. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered a thorough joint investigation into the deadly terrorist attack on Chinese nationals after Beijing pressed Islamabad to speed up the hunt for the perpetrators and take effective steps to protect Chinese personnel working in the country.