China Condemns Killing of Its Workers in Afghanistan

The United Nations joined Chinese officials on Thursday in condemning the killing of at least 11 Chinese construction workers, the worst attack on foreign civilians since the fall of the Taliban three years ago.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council condemned the attack, as did Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was visiting the U.S.

“China will not yield to terrorism,” Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters in Beijing.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, visiting Poland, released a statement condemning the killings.

As many as 20 armed men stormed the compound near Kunduz, a peaceful town in northern Afghanistan about 120 miles north of Kabul, the capital, and opened fire on the Chinese workers. The attack, one of several against foreigners as national elections draw close, suggested that militants might be expanding their operations.

Estimates of the number of wounded ranged from four to more than 14. The number of dead could also change, Afghan officials said.

The victims worked for a Chinese company that is building a 50-mile stretch of road linking Kunduz to the province of Baghlan. Most of the victims arrived this week.

Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the gunmen, who came in Toyota Corollas, attacked the compound in Jalaw Jar district at 1 a.m. “Some terrorist persons ... armed with AK-47 guns started firing on the workers on the construction site. The people escaped and are still at large,” he said.

Kunduz has a large international presence, including about 250 German soldiers who have established a PRT -- provincial reconstruction team -- under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The quasi-military team provides security and some aid.

“The injured were taken to a hospital in Kunduz and we think another two died in hospital,” said squadron leader Sean McFetrich, a spokesman with the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, which is under the command of NATO.

China’s U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said in Beijing that his country would “continue to join international efforts in the fight against terrorism.”

Jean Arnault, the top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, condemned the killings and in a statement expressed great sadness at the growing number of civilian casualties. He did not say how it would affect preparations for the September elections.

The attack was front-page news across China, and several people on their way to work this morning in Beijing said they were angry.

“I think our government is responsible to a certain degree. They should at least safeguard” people abroad, said security guard Du Huaxin, 24.

Liu Yanchun, 42, a store owner, said: “These are just migrant workers. They have nothing to do with politics. Why should the terrorists attack them?”

In the last week, U.S. Marines said they had killed about 70 suspected Taliban in fighting and bombing raids in the south.

The killings in Kunduz are the latest deadly attacks on civilians associated with the central government. On June 2, three European and two Afghan workers with Doctors Without Borders were shot dead in the northwestern province of Badghis.

Vikram Parekh, Kabul-based senior analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank said the north had been stable for the last couple of years. “It is a worrying sign that even with a large PRT on the ground, you can’t really preclude these kinds of things,” he said.

Times staff writer John M. Glionna in Beijing contributed to this report.