Dasu bus attack

Dasu bus incident

Part of the Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Anti-China terrorism in Pakistan
Date	14 July 2021
Time	(UTC+05:00)
Location	Upper Kohistan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Type	Suicide bombing
Perpetrator	Pakistani Taliban
Deaths	14 (including the perpetrator)
Non-fatal injuries	28

On 14 July 2021, a bus carrying Chinese workers in the Dasu area of Upper Kohistan District, Pakistan, fell into a ravine after an explosion, killing 13 people, including nine Chinese citizens and four Pakistanis, and injuring 28 others.[1][2][3]

The bombing

The bomb was detonated near a hydroelectric project where Chinese and Pakistani workers had been laboring together for several years. The bus fell into a ravine as a result of the attack. The injured were taken by ambulance helicopters to a hospital in Dasu city, 10 km away.[4] Muhammad Hasnain and Muhammed Ayaz, who were identified as Pakistani Taliban members and masterminds of the attack, were arrested and sentenced to death in November 2022.[5]

Reactions

On 12 August 2021, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Afghanistan's soil was used for the terrorist attack and the investigators were looking traces of its planning and that the perpetrators had met meeting with NDS and RAW revealing an "Indian-Afghan nexus."[6][7]

The same day, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) DG Javed Iqbal, said that Dasu attack was a suicide attack and it was done by attackers from Afghanistan. He identified Khalid aka Sheikh as the bomber and said he was a resident of Afghanistan. DG Javed Iqbal had identified Muhammad Tariq Rafiq, a commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, as the main mastermind behind the attack.[8]

Response

The main mastermind of the attack, Muhammad Tariq Rafiq, was killed in Paich Dara, Kunar Province, Afghanistan on 12 July 2023. Muhammad Tariq Rafiq was highly wanted commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and was responsible for number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan including the Dasu bus attack.[9][10][11]

On 12 November 2022, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan sentenced both Muhammad Hussain and Muhammad Ayaz to death for their involvement in the attack.[12]

See also

• Gwadar suicide attack
• Shangla suicide attack

References

1. "9 Chinese, 4 Pakistanis killed in Dasu bus tragedy". 15 July 2021.
2. "Chinese company stops work on Dasu project after bus incident".
3. "Dasu bus incident investigation in "final" stage: Rashid". 17 July 2021.
4. Ahmad, Jibran; Tian, Yew Lun (2021-07-14). "Pakistan bus blast kills 13 including Chinese; Beijing blames bomb". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
5. "Two get death in Pakistan for attack targeting Chinese engineers". Al Jazeera. 15 November 2022.
6. "'Indian-Afghan nexus' behind Dasu bus attack: Qureshi". Dawn(Newspaper). Islamabad. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
7. "RAW, NDS nexus behind Dasu attack: FM". The Express Tribune. Islamabad. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
8. "Mastermind of Dasu terrorist attack killed in Afghanistan". G News Network. 12 July 2023.
9. "Dasu terror attack 'mastermind' killed in Afghanistan". The Nation. 12 July 2023.
10. "TTP commander involved in attack on Chinese installations killed". Aaj English TV. 12 July 2023.
11. "TTP commander, responsible for attacks on Chinese installations, shot dead in Afghanistan". Daily Pakistan Global. 12 July 2023.
12. "Two to hang for Dasu terror attack". The Express Tribune. 12 November 2022.