Hotel explosion in Pakistan: four dead in car bomb attack outside Hotel Quetta where Chinese ambassador reportedly stayed

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Quetta is the capital of the province of Balochistan, close to the Afghan border. The province has seen decades of revolt by separatists demanding independence from Pakistan, citing the state’s monopoly and exploitation of the province’s mineral resources.

The explosion outside the Serena Hotel took place late Wednesday night local time and rescue and security forces are investigating the incident, Muhammad Akram, a rescue official at the blast site, told CNN.

Considered the safest hotel in Quetta, the Serena Hotel is typically where international development teams and diplomats stay during their visit.

“This incident took place after Iftar (the fast). The car was parked in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel,” said Ziaullah Lango, Balochistan’s provincial interior minister, according to Reuters. “One of our policemen is one of the injured.”

Images and footage from the scene show vehicles on fire in the hotel parking lot and thick smoke emanating from the explosion.

The Pakistani Taliban, a militant group known as Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed responsibility for the bombing. In an email received by CNN, TTP spokesman Muhammad Khurassani said it was a “suicide bombing carried out by a TTP bomber with the car” and that “further details will be shared shortly.”

Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong, was staying at the hotel but was not there when the bomb exploded, Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Puffs of smoke from burning vehicles at the site of the Quetta, Pakistan bombing, on April 21, 2021.

Lango, the provincial interior minister, said the ambassador was “cheerful” and would continue his activities Thursday. “He has also said he will not leave until after he has completed his tour,” said Lango.

It was not clear whether the envoy or members of his delegation were the target of the attack, but Chinese citizens and their interests in the region have been attacked by militants before.

Last year, the Pakistani stock exchange in Karachi was the target of an attack by the separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which said the attack targeted China’s economic interests “in retaliation for Chinese plans of exploitation in Balochistan.”
In 2018, the BLA claimed another attack in which armed attackers attempted to storm the Chinese consulate in Karachi, killing four people, saying it would not tolerate Chinese military expansionist efforts.
In October 2020, 14 people were killed in an attack by an umbrella organization of Baloch militant groups, Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), in Gwadar on a convoy of the state-run Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL) . And in 2019, five were killed in a similar attack on a luxury hotel, also in the city of Gwadar, where Chinese workers were staying.

In 2015, under the Beijing Belt and Road trade and infrastructure program, China turned Balochistan’s Gwadar into the deepest seaport in the world. The coastal city is now a hub of Chinese investment in Pakistan.

Journalist Saleem Mehsud contributed from Islamabad.

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