{"id":27098,"date":"2018-12-27T12:29:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T12:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=27098"},"modified":"2018-12-27T12:29:59","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T12:29:59","slug":"alleged-leader-of-chinese-consulate-attack-in-pakistan-killed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=27098","title":{"rendered":"Alleged leader of Chinese consulate attack in Pakistan killed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Pakistani separatist leader wanted over an attack on the Chinese consulate<\/a> in Karachi has been killed along with five others in a suicide blast in Afghanistan<\/a>, his group has confirmed.<\/p>\n

Aslam Baloch, a top commander of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), was accused by Pakistani authorities of masterminding the November attack which left seven people dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was killed on Tuesday along with five associates in a blast in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing a statement issued by the BLA late on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The group, one of the various armed groups fighting in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan<\/a> province, has vowed to continue its fight for Baloch independence, AP reported.<\/p>\n

Kandahar police chief Tadin Khan confirmed to the AFP that the suicide bombing took place in Kandahar. Another Afghan official who spoke anonymously told the agency that Baloch and a second member of the BLA were the targets of the attack.<\/p>\n

Pakistan’s Samaa Television reported that Aslam was killed along with a number of his commanders in the suicide attack in Aino Maina.<\/p>\n

Last month, three attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in Karachi, killing four people, including two policemen and as many civilians.<\/p>\n

Security forces killed the three attackers, who carried explosives.<\/p>\n

The BLA claimed the attack, labelling Beijing an “oppressor” and “making it clear that China’s military expansionism on Baloch soil will not be tolerated”.<\/p>\n

It had warned the Chinese to leave or “be prepared for continued attacks”.<\/p>\n

China<\/a>, one of Pakistan<\/a>‘s closest allies, has poured billions of dollars into the South Asian country in recent years as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC<\/a>), a massive infrastructure project that seeks to connect its western province of Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar in Balochistan province.<\/p>\n

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Counting the Cost – The China-Pakistan economic corridor (8:12)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Pakistan sees the project as a “gamechanger”, but it presents an enormous challenge in a country plagued by weak institutions, endemic corruption and with a range of armed groups operating in areas hosting the corridor.<\/p>\n

The subject of economic dividends from CPEC is extremely sensitive in some of those areas, particularly in Balochistan.<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of the project, fighters have repeatedly attacked construction sites, blowing up numerous gas pipelines and trains and targeted Chinese workers.<\/p>\n

Balochistan, on the borders of Afghanistan and Iran, has rich mineral and natural gas reserves but is Pakistan’s poorest province.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Pakistani separatist leader wanted over an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi has been killed along with five others in a suicide blast in Afghanistan, his group has confirmed. Aslam Baloch, a top commander of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), was accused by Pakistani authorities of masterminding the November attack which left seven…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":27099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}