Gunmen kill three Chinese in Pakistan, police say

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 8 (Reuters) Unidentified gunmen killed three Chinese workers and wounded one in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar today, Pakistani police and officials said.

A Chinese embassy official said the mission had been informed of the incident but had not yet confirmed the four were from China.

''As they were coming out of their factory, they were ambushed. We're gathering more details,'' a senior provincial government official told Reuters.

The four were working for a motorcyle company on the outskirts of Peshawar, making three-wheeled auto-rickshaws, the official said.

China is Pakistan's most steadfast ally and is involved in numerous development projects.

Three Chinese technicians working on a port project in the volatile southwestern province of Baluchistan were killed in a bomb attack in 2004.

The same year, Islamist militants kidnapped two Chinese engineers working on a dam in the volatile South Waziristan region. One was killed during a rescue operation, while the other was freed.

Last month, radical Islamist students based at an Islamabad mosque kidnapped six women and a man from China, whom the students said were involved in prostitution.

Government officials said the kidnapping was a key factor forcing government action against the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, where clashes broke out on Tuesday between students and paramilitary troops tightening security around the mosque compound.

REUTERS SBC BST2347