At least two people were killed and several injured in an explosion near the international airport of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Sunday night, local media reported. Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded outside the airport, which is Pakistan’s biggest. The nature of the blast was not immediately clear, the broadcaster Geo News cited a provincial official as saying. In a statement emailed to journalists, the separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the explosion was an attack carried out by them using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeting “a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors” coming from Karachi’s airport. Videos showed flames engulfing cars and a thick column of smoke rising from the scene. There was a heavy military deployment at the site, which was cordoned off. Local official Azfar Mahesar told reporters that it seemed like it was an oil tanker explosion. “We are determining the nature and reasons for the blast. It takes time.” Police officers were among the injured, he added. Rahat Hussain, who works in the civil aviation department, said the blast was so big that it shook the airport’s buildings. Thousands of Chinese workers are in Pakistan, many of them involved in an “economic corridor” between the two countries that is a flagship section of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar belt and road initiative that seeks to connect the Chinese capital with south and central Asia and beyond. The BLA seeks independence for the province of Balochistan, located in Pakistan’s south-west and bordering on Afghanistan and Iran. In August, it launched coordinated attacks in the province, in which more than 70 people were killed. The BLA specifically targets Chinese interests, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad exploit the province. It has killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing’s consulate in Karachi. Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said flights from Karachi were continuing “as usual” and “agencies are investigating the cause at the scene of the accident/explosion”.