QUETTA, Feb 16: Police investigating the killing of three Chinese engineers and the Pakistani driver in the Hub area of Balochistan on Wednesday have rounded up about 50 suspects.

The government, meanwhile, has enhanced security of foreigners, especially Chinese engineers and other staff, working on development projects in various areas of Balochistan, including Gwadar and Saindak, official sources said on Thursday, adding that more troops of Frontier Corps and police had been deployed.

According to sources, police and other law-enforcement agencies made the arrests after they cordoned off the factory area and nearby villages in Hub and carried out a thorough search.

Balochistan Chief Secretary K.B. Rind and Inspector General Police Chaudhary Mohammad Yaqoob visited the Hub industrial area.

“We are investigating all aspects of the incident and special teams have been set up to interrogate the suspects rounded up from Hub,” Chaudhary Yaqoob told Dawn.

He said he was confident that police would soon reach the killers.

He clarified that the firing on the vehicle of the Chinese engineers had taken place in the premises of the Attock Cement Factory where security was the responsibility of the factory management which maintained 84 private security guards in and around the premises.

“We have provided police guards at the residence of Chinese engineers in the premises of the factory,” he said, adding that police also provided security to the Chinese engineers whenever they went out of their camp.

He said that the assailants had succeeded in entering the premises of the factory despite the presence of private security guards.

Police teams also questioned some employees of the factory.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the engineers were handed over to the Chinese consulate in Karachi after completion of legal formalities, official sources told this correspondent. They said that 11 other Chinese engineers who were installing a new plant in the factory had also left Hub and would return to their country.

Chief Secretary K.B. Rind said that effective steps would be taken to provide security to private industrial units in Hub, adding that strict action would also be taken against elements which were creating hurdles in the development process.

“The killing of three Chinese engineers is a terrorist act and the government would not allow any such incident in future,” he said.

He directed all institutions concerned and law-enforcement agencies to make full use of resources to protect foreigners in the province. He said that the government would not allow anyone to challenge the writ of the government.

He also said that Pakistan-China friendship would not be affected by such incidents because it was based on sincerity.

He termed the incident a conspiracy to sabotage the development process in Balochistan, but said that the government would deal with subversive elements with an iron hand.