Serena Hotel Bombing: Pakistan Hints At India Involvement; Taliban Takes Credit
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for this week's bombing of a Quetta hotel where China's ambassador Nong Rong was staying. However, a Pakistan minister says foreign powers were responsible.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has started an investigation into the bombing. He condemned the attack. He said Pakistan was alert to all internal and external threats. "Our nation has made great sacrifices in defeating terrorism and we will not to allow this scourge to rise again," he said.
Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan, alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, is an umbrella organization of various militant groups based along the Afghan-Pakistani border, said it executed the attack.
Pakistan's interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed didn't name any foreign group in his accusations but said foreign powers were trying to destabilize Pakistan.
Pakistan has accused India in the past for attacks in the country. The India government has denied the accusations. India and Pakistan have engaged in three wars over the Kashmir region that is partially controlled by China.
A representative of China's Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, says its government condemns the attack.
According to a report Friday in Global Times, the bombing "has become the latest material for some Western media to exploit."
The China news organization said some news agencies from the West used the attack to "paint a different picture in terms of China's Belt and Road Initiative activities in the region to suggest locals were anti-China and against the BRI."
As many as five people were killed and a dozen injured in the explosion in Quetta in the southwest of Pakistan and near the Afghan border.
China's ambassador was staying at the Serena Hotel and was to return there after a dinner meeting. The blast outside the hotel occurred before his return.
The Serena Hotel is considered the most secure hotel in the Pakistani city and is favored by diplomats and senior officials.