Three terrorists, including the mastermind behind the November 2024 attack on Chinese engineers, were killed during a counterterrorism operation in Karachi’s Manghopir area, officials said on Monday.

On November 5 last year, two Chinese nationals were shot at and wounded by a private security guard in a textile mill in Karachi’s SITE area. At that time, investigators had suspected that it was a targeted attack.

Following the incident, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that the attack was being probed, adding that Pakistan was committed to the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects, and institutions in the country. A first information report (FIR) was registered two days later against the security guard who had fled after the incident.

“A terrorist who masterminded an attack on Chinese engineers in November last year has been killed during an operation in Karachi’s Manghopir area,” Additional Inspector-General of Police, Counter-Terrorism Department Azad Khan told Dawn.com.

Khan said the slain terrorist was identified as Zafran, while two of his accomplices were also killed in the operation.

Senior CTD official Raja Umer Khattab said that the operation was jointly carried out by the CTD and personnel of intelligence agencies. “The teams raided a house in the Manghopir area and killed the terrorists during an operation,” he said. “They belonged to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).”

At the time of the incident, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG-South) Syed Asad Raza told journalists that the incident had occurred as a result of a verbal altercation between the engineers and the guard, but a further probe was underway to ascertain the exact reason.

He had said that a supervisor and three guards of the private security company had been detained for questioning, while efforts were underway to arrest the guard involved in the shooting. The DIG had added that the suspect’s residence had been traced, and investigators were collecting information about him from his neighbours.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in terrorist activities, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

Attacks have predominantly targeted the police, law enforcement agencies’ personnel, and security forces. However, Chinese nationals have also been targeted inside Pakistan over the last couple of years.

According to a report by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) published in 2024, 20 Chinese citizens have been killed and 34 injured in terrorist attacks in the country since 2021.

In October 2024, a suicide attack near Karachi airport, claimed by the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), left two Chinese citizens dead and injured ten others.

In March 2024, Chinese workers were targeted in KP’s Besham, reportedly carried out by affiliates of either the TTP or Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), resulting in five Chinese fatalities.

At least four people, including three Chinese nationals, were killed while four others were injured in a suicide attack outside the University of Karachi’s (KU) Confucius Institute in 2022.

The escalation in violence against Chinese nationals had amplified Beijing’s security concerns, especially over progress on China-Pakistan Econo­mic Corridor (CPEC) projects. Speaking at the event in late October last year, the Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong had expressed frustration over the attacks, stating it was “unacceptable” and urging Islamabad to strengthen security measures for Chinese nationals and crack down on anti-China elements.

Former Foreign Office spokes­person Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had called the statement “perplexing” and a stark departure from the longstanding diplomatic norms between the two nations.