A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesmanconfirmed Monday afternoon Chinese casualties incurred in a car bomb attack occurring in southwestern Pakistan early Monday, and requested the Pakistan side to take all possible measures to rescue injured Chinese engineers and probe into the incident.

Spokesman Kong Quan said an unmanned car went off when a bus took 12 Chinese engineers from a navigation planning and project exploration institute attached to the Chinese Ministry of Communication to the port of Gawadar, about 500 km south of Karachi, and the bus was damaged seriously. Up to now, three Chinese engineers lost their lives and others injured, four of them seriously.

Kong said the Chinese government attached close importance to the incident. Upon the learning of it, the spokesman added, the Chinese Foreign Ministry immediately requested the Pakistani side to take all possible measures to rescue the injured Chinese engineers and probe into the tragedy, and at the same time instructed the Chinese embassy in Pakistan and consulate general in Karachi to spare no effort in pitching in the rescue work.

(Xinhua News  Agency  May 4, 2004)