Quetta, Pakistan (CNN) -
A car bomb explosion in front of a luxury hotel where China's ambassador was allegedly staying in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta killed four people and injured 12, according to reports. local authorities.
Quetta is the capital of the Balochistan province, close to the Afghan border.
The province has witnessed a decades-long insurgency by separatists demanding independence from Pakistan, citing what they say is the state monopoly and exploitation of the province's mineral resources.
The explosion in front of the Serena hotel took place Wednesday night local time, and rescue and security services are investigating the incident, Muhammad Akram, a rescue official at the scene of the blast, told CNN.
The Serena Hotel is considered the safest hotel in Quetta and is typically the place where international development teams and diplomats choose to stay during their visit.
This incident occurred after Iftar (breaking of the fast).
The car was parked in the parking lot of the Hotel Serena, ”said Balochistan Provincial Interior Minister Ziaullah Lango, according to Reuters.
"One of our police officers is among the wounded."
Footage and footage from the scene show burning vehicles in the hotel parking lot and thick smoke billowing from the blast.
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The Pakistani Taliban, a militant group known as Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
In an email received by CNN, TTP spokesman Muhammad Khurassani said it was a "suicide attack that was carried out by a TTP attacker in a car" and that "more details will be shared soon."
China's 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 on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Smoke from burning vehicles at the site of a bomb explosion in Quetta, Pakistan, on April 21, 2021.
Lango, the provincial interior minister, said the ambassador was "in a good mood" and would continue his activities on Thursday.
"He has also said that he will only leave after he has completed his tour," Lango said.
It was unclear whether the envoy or members of his delegation were the target of the attack, but Chinese citizens and their interests in the region have previously been targeted by militants.
Last year, the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi was the target of an attack claimed by the separatist group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which said the attack was aimed at China's economic interests "in retaliation for the plans of Chinese exploitation in Baluchistan '.
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In 2018, the BLA called for another attack in which armed attackers attempted to storm the Chinese consulate in Karachi, killing four people, saying it would not tolerate any Chinese military expansionist efforts.
In October 2020, an attack by a Baloch militant groups coordinating organization, Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), in Gwadar on a convoy of the state-owned Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL) killed 14 people.
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 scheme, China turned Balochistan's Gwadar into the world's deepest seaport.
The coastal city is now a hub for Chinese investment in Pakistan.
Journalist Saleem Mehsud contributed reporting from Islamabad.
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