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Kabul seizes 2 for killing 11 Chinese
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-11 22:53 Two suspects were detained in connection to the
slaying of 11 Chinese workers in Afghanistan.
Interrogations were ongoing Friday, Afghan Army General Mohammand Daud told
China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Sun Yuxi. The investigation was ongoing.
"We have taken two attackers into custody so far and we are hopeful to arrest
their three accomplices soon," General Mohammad Daud said on Friday.
An Afghan police officer inspects the scene
where Chinese railway workers were gunned down in their sleep by unknown
attackers in Had Bakhshi of northern Afghanistan June 10, 2004. Eleven
Chinese workers died and four were injured. It was the worst attack on
foreigners since the fall of the Taliban regime.
[AFP] |
As a result of a cold-blooded attack committed by a group of armed men early
Thursday morning on the sound sleeping Chinese workers' compound in Jalowgir
area 36 kilometres away from Kunduz city, 11 workers were killed and four others
were injured.
Remains of the 11 dead were transferred to Kabul by Afghan military
helicopters. They were kept temporarily at the Kabul Army Hospital, said a
source form the construction company.
The four injured will be transferred by a German C-130 aircraft to a German
medical facility in the capital for further treatment.
The general termed the number of attackers as high as five, saying all those
involved in the heinous crime will be awarded exemplary punishment.
The mother of one of the slain Chinese road
workers Zhou Wenwu receives emergency treatment after she fainted at the
news in Jinan, Shandong Province. [newsphoto] |
However, he declined to identify the name or group or political affiliation
of the suspects arrested in this connection.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the bloody attack on the Chinese
workers.
"This attack is the work of the enemies of Afghanistan who want to derail the
process of national reconstruction in Afghanistan and this will not be
tolerated," President Karzai said in the press release on Friday morning.
"On behalf of the people and government of Afghanistan, I would like to
present my deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims, the
Chinese people and government," Karzai said.
At the President's order, a special investigation has been launched to bring
those responsible to justice.
Afghanistan's interior and public security ministries will send a delegation
to visit the site of the attack and initiate a thorough investigation into the
incident.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the terrorist attack
and expressed his profound condolences to the Chinese government and to the
bereaved families Friday.
"This appalling attack follows a series of other incidents directed against
those working in support of the Bonn peace process," said Annan, calling on the
Afghan government, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force for
Afghanistan (ISAF), and Coalition forces to take necessary measures to address
the security situation.
The attack, the worst against foreigners since the fall of the Taliban regime
in 2001, incurred the first major casualties on Chinese in Afghanistan in the
past two years.
Still, Sun said China will not surrender to terrorism in any form. The attack
will not affect rebuilding activities in the region, Sun said.
The workers, employees of China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation (CRSGC),
were taking part in a road rebuilding project.
A 14-member company work team is on the way to Kabul to handle follow-up
issues.
The work team will work with the Afghan side to take effective measures to
ensure the safety of Chinese people there.
Ten of the dead workers, aged between 31 and 56, and two of the injured were
all male natives of Guangfeng County in East China's Jiangxi Province. The
others were from Zhucheng in East China's Shandong Province.
The families of the 10 dead workers from Jiangxi Province are all lived in
remote rural areas. The provincial and local municipal governments have offered
4,000 yuan (US$484) to each family.
Around 320 Chinese workers have been working at four sites in Afghanistan,
including Parwan's irrigation canal, Kubul-Jalalabad highway, Baghlan-Kunduz
road and Jamhoriat hospital in Kabul.
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