Two Chinese nationals were killed and 17 people injured in a suicide attack by a Baloch insurgent group that targeted a convoy of Chinese workers near Pakistan’s busiest airport here late at night, authorities said on Monday.

The explosion near the Jinnah International Airport Sunday night also killed the suspected suicide bomber. The attack is the latest in a string of violence against Chinese workers in Pakistan. It comes less than two weeks before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s summit to be held in the national capital.

The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the blast was a suicide attack targeting a convoy of Chinese engineers and investors leaving the Jinnah International Airport.

The attack occurred less than a mile from the airport’s main terminal. Authorities briefly suspended all traffic going to the airport.

The Chinese nationals were working at the Port Qasim Electric Power Company on the outskirts of the city and were returning home when their convoy was attacked, officials said.

“Initial investigations show that a small vehicle was used to carry out the suicide attack when the vehicle carrying the Chinese nationals reached the main signal near the Karachi Airport,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Asif Sheikh said.

He said that it appeared that the vehicle used by the suicide bomber had explosives and as soon as it hit the target it exploded.

“It appears they were planning this attack since last year,” he added.

The Chinese embassy confirmed that two of its nationals had died and another was injured, along with “some local casualties”.

“Three bodies were brought to the hospital and two of them are Chinese nationals,” surgeon Dr Summaiya at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC) said.

A senior police official at the Counter Terrorism Department said the third body could be that of the suicide bomber.

SSP Malir Kashif Abbasi said the investigators identified th