(Bloomberg) -- Five Chinese nationals and one Pakistani were killed in a suicide bomb blast in Pakistan’s northwest Shangla region on Tuesday, the latest attack targeting workers and infrastructure projects associated with Islamabad’s key ally and investor. 

Militants drove an explosive-laden car into a vehicle carrying the Chinese citizens heading to the Dasu dam that’s being built by a Chinese company, local police said. The Chinese nationals were part of a convoy of at least 12 vehicles when the militants attacked and a Pakistani driver was also killed, one of the police officials said.

This is the latest in a series of attacks appearing to target Beijing’s interests in Pakistan. On the same day, local militants attacked a naval base in southwest Balochistan in the latest development in a simmering insurgency, according to the Dawn newspaper, and last week they struck near a strategic port operated by a Chinese company in the same province. 

No group so far has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in northwest Pakistan. The Dasu hydro-power project is part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative and in 2021 a bus carrying workers to the site became the target of an attack that left 12 people dead, including nine Chinese citizens.

Pakistan has seen a resurgence in militant attacks since August 2021 when the Taliban took over in neighboring Afghanistan, emboldening groups like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan — a local offshoot. Pakistan had 586 attacks in 2023, 55% more than the previous year, according to Islamabad-based Center for Research & Security Studies. 

China’s embassy in Pakistan asked for a thorough investigation of Tuesday’s attack and that the perpetrators be severely punished. It also called on the authorities to take steps to protect Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Chinese investment is crucial for Pakistan, which is also seeking a fresh loan from the International Monetary Fund to support the cash strapped economy.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who won a second term in power after a contentious election, is seeking to revive projects on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, an infrastructure network of roads, railways and ports under the Belt and Road initiative. Projects worth about $60 billion were completed in the first phase that started in 2015. 

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry condemned the suicide bomb attack Tuesday and vowed a “strong retaliation.” 

“The enemy has targeted the citizens of Pakistan’s most trusted friend,” the ministry said in a statement. “This was not an attack on Chinese nationals, but on Pakistan.”

--With assistance from Khalid Qayum.

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