AFGHANISTAN: Gunmen in Afghanistan killed 11 Chinese road workers after bursting into their compound early yesterday, in one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Afghanistan since the Taliban's overthrow in 2001.
The raid occurred 35 km south of the northern city of Kunduz, until now deemed a secure area as Islamic insurgents concentrate their attacks in Afghanistan's south and east.
The provincial governor blamed the raid on militants bent on destabilising the government of President Hamid Karzai by attacking foreign and Afghan troops as well as aid and reconstruction workers ahead of landmark elections in September.
The Taliban, the main guerrilla group opposed to Mr Karzai's government, denied responsibility. "We were not behind this, we have not done this," said rebel spokesman Hamid Agha.
The raid was another blow for Mr Karzai, who is visiting the US and faces growing instability that is undermining vital assistance missions and reconstruction in the war-shattered country of 28 million people.
"For sure this was a politically motivated act," said Kunduz governor Mr Mohammad Omar.
"It was carried out by the enemies of Afghanistan," he added, using the euphemism for remnants of the ousted Taliban or their allies in al-Qaeda and forces loyal to renegade warlord and former prime minister Mr Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
China condemned the killings as a "brutal terrorist act" but said it had no plan to pull its workers out of the country.
"The Chinese side will not yield to any form of terrorism," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. China backed the US-led war on terror after the September 11th attacks but has expressed misgivings over the war in Iraq.