A blast inside the premises of University of Karachi in Pakistan on Tuesday killed at least four people, including three Chinese nationals, and injured several others. The blast took place in a van near Confucius Institute, a Chinese language teaching centre, in Karachi University. The injured, including a foreigner, a rangers’ officer and a private guard, were shifted to a private hospital in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Among the deceased was the director of the Confucius Institute Zhang Xiaoping. The other two female Chinese nationals were also part of the faculty of the same institute.

The victims were returning to the Confucius Institute from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in the afternoon when the blast took place. Police authorities confirmed that the explosion in the vehicle was a terror attack, carried out by a burqa clad female bomber.

The deceased were identified as Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sa and Khalid, the Pakistani driver. A spokesperson of the university said two others, Wang Yuqing and Hamid, were injured in the incident.

According to initial reports, the van was transporting lecturers including two foreign nationals who were returning after teaching at the university. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, in the past, outlawed militant separatist groups in the restive Balochistan province have claimed attacks on Chinese nationals who work in large numbers in different parts of Pakistan particularly Balochistan and Karachi because of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.