China's official news agency Xinhua reported on March 2, 2016, that one Chinese national was killed and three wounded in a "militant" attack in Laos. Xinhua quoted the China's consulate in Luang Prabang province as confirming that the attack, "was aimed at a shed of a Chinese-invested company." Regional security forces were "sent to wipe out the militants", Xinhua said, without mentioning whether the Chinese workers were intentionally targeted. Xinhua said another attack occurred around the same time in the region targeting a bus and a pickup truck in which at least five people from Laos were injured. In late January, two Chinese nationals were killed and another wounded in a suspected bomb blast in Laos that occurred in the remote Xaysomboun region, which has been plagued by sporadic conflict between the government and ethnic Hmong militants for years.