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Pakistani Police Allege India Linked To Attack On China Consulate


Pakistani investigators look at the belongings of attackers including grenades outside the Chinese consulate after an attack in Karachi on November 23.
Pakistani investigators look at the belongings of attackers including grenades outside the Chinese consulate after an attack in Karachi on November 23.

Pakistani police say they are investigating whether a Baluch separatist commander suspected of orchestrating a suicide attack against the Chinese Consulate in Karachi is sheltering in India.

Pakistani security forces say they killed three suicide attackers trying to carry out the November 23 attack before they were able to enter the consulate building.

But two police and two Pakistani visa applicants were also killed in the violence, which was claimed by a Pakistan-based separatist militant group known as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

Pakistan's government has called the attack a "conspiracy" against the strategic cooperation between Islamabad and Beijing.

On November 24, Pakistani counterterrorism police officer Umar Khitab said the attackers used a foreign-made C-4 plastic explosive and suggested that India was involved.

Khitab also suggested that India was involved, saying that the BLA was backed by the "enemy country," a reference to India.

Khitab said the authorities believed Baluch separatist commander Aslam Achhu masterminded the attack and that he may now be in India.

Other Pakistani officials said on November 24 that four people who allegedly helped the attackers have been arrested in Karachi and other towns in Pakistan's Sindh Province.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
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