KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces in an overnight raid killed three suspected militants accused of orchestrating last year's attack in which two Chinese nationals working in a textile mill in the southern port city of Karachi were wounded, officials said on Monday.

Azad Khan, a senior official with the Counter-Terrorism Department, said the dead insurgents included the alleged mastermind of the November 2024 attack.

He identified that person only as Zafran and said he was from the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP and are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

China has repeatedly pressed Pakistan to improve security for its nationals working on major infrastructure projects under Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which include roads, railways and power plants.

Chinese nationals have increasingly come under attack by militant groups, including TTP and the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army — banned by the Pakistani authorities and also designated as terrorist groups by the United States.

Pakistan has pledged to bolster security measures for Chinese workers, including those employed at private factories.

Meanwhile, at least seven people were killed the previous day in Tirah Valley, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Fiaz Khan, a local government official, said.

He said the violence erupted when hundreds of residents gathered outside a military camp to demand protection and justice after a child was killed in a mortar attack on the weekend. The crowd came under gunfire from “unknown gunmen,” Khan said.

He said the demonstrators accused security forces of opening fire when some people were throwing stones at the military camp, but police had yet to determine whose bullets caused the deaths. Khan said gunfire was also reported from nearby hills, and police suspect TTP may have been behind the shooting to sow discord between residents and the military.

The government has ordered a probe into the killings of demonstrators, he said.

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Associated Press writer Riaz Khan contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan.

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