Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday confirmed the death of two Chinese nationals who were abducted from Balochistan earlier this year.
“The DNA reports have confirmed that the two persons killed in Balochistan in June 2017 were the same two Chinese nationals who were kidnapped from Quetta in May,” a Foreign Office statement said.
Lee Zing Yang, 24, and Meng Li Si, 26, were abducted from Jinnah Town in the city on May 24.
The confirmation from the Foreign Office came months after the Islamic State claimed it had killed the Chinese man and woman who had reportedly been “preaching” in Balochistan under the garb of learning Urdu.
“The Government of Pakistan expresses its deep sense of shock and grief on this brutal act of terrorism,” the statement read, while extending condolences to Beijing and to the Chinese couple’s relatives.
Beijing is ramping up investment in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor unveiled in 2015 that will link its Xinjiang region to Gwadar port with a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades.
—IANS