J-10
06-13-2004, 11:24 AM
10 Arrested in Afghan Killing of Chinese
Sunday June 13, 2004 5:01 PM
By AMIR SHAH
Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Authorities have arrested 10 people in connection with the killing of 11 Chinese workers and found evidence that a warlord wanted by the U.S. military was behind the bloody attack, Afghan officials said Sunday.
A $10,000 reward was also offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the worst attack on foreign civilians since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Six people were arrested Sunday in Kunduz province, some 150 miles north of the capital, Kabul, and four were earlier detained in neighboring Baghlan, said Gen. Mohammed Daoud, the Kunduz military commander.
Gunmen sneaked into the camp of a Chinese road contractor in Kunduz on Thursday, spraying the workers with gunfire as they slept in a row of tents. Eleven Chinese died and five were wounded. The unfenced camp's sole Afghan armed guard was also killed.
Daoud said the six detained Sunday were picked up in various villages of Ali Abad district, where the camp was located.
He declined to give details said it was too early to say if any militant group was behind the killing, announcing the reward in an attempt to gather more evidence.
The Kunduz police chief said there were signs that followers of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar were involved.
Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and veteran of the country's brutal civil war, has joined the Taliban in vowing to drive out foreign troops and oust President Hamid Karzai.
Police chief Mutaleb Beg said one of the attackers was a former Taliban driver called Abdul Rassoul Kuchi who had been in the area of the camp the night of the attack.
``We have evidence that they are from Hezb-e Islami,'' Hekmatyar's faction, police chief Mutaleb Beg said of the attackers, but declined to elaborate.
Daoud said hundreds of people held a demonstration in Kunduz city on Sunday to condemn the killing and call on the Chinese company to continue its work repairing the key highway from Kabul to the Tajik border.
On Monday, Chinese officials were expected to arrive in Kunduz to decide how to increase security for the project, while two planes were to arrive in Kabul to collect the dead and wounded.
The bodies will be flown to the southern Chinese city of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, where 10 of the slain workers were born, China's official Xinhua News Agency said.
From (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4200306,00.html)
Sunday June 13, 2004 5:01 PM
By AMIR SHAH
Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Authorities have arrested 10 people in connection with the killing of 11 Chinese workers and found evidence that a warlord wanted by the U.S. military was behind the bloody attack, Afghan officials said Sunday.
A $10,000 reward was also offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the worst attack on foreign civilians since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Six people were arrested Sunday in Kunduz province, some 150 miles north of the capital, Kabul, and four were earlier detained in neighboring Baghlan, said Gen. Mohammed Daoud, the Kunduz military commander.
Gunmen sneaked into the camp of a Chinese road contractor in Kunduz on Thursday, spraying the workers with gunfire as they slept in a row of tents. Eleven Chinese died and five were wounded. The unfenced camp's sole Afghan armed guard was also killed.
Daoud said the six detained Sunday were picked up in various villages of Ali Abad district, where the camp was located.
He declined to give details said it was too early to say if any militant group was behind the killing, announcing the reward in an attempt to gather more evidence.
The Kunduz police chief said there were signs that followers of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar were involved.
Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and veteran of the country's brutal civil war, has joined the Taliban in vowing to drive out foreign troops and oust President Hamid Karzai.
Police chief Mutaleb Beg said one of the attackers was a former Taliban driver called Abdul Rassoul Kuchi who had been in the area of the camp the night of the attack.
``We have evidence that they are from Hezb-e Islami,'' Hekmatyar's faction, police chief Mutaleb Beg said of the attackers, but declined to elaborate.
Daoud said hundreds of people held a demonstration in Kunduz city on Sunday to condemn the killing and call on the Chinese company to continue its work repairing the key highway from Kabul to the Tajik border.
On Monday, Chinese officials were expected to arrive in Kunduz to decide how to increase security for the project, while two planes were to arrive in Kabul to collect the dead and wounded.
The bodies will be flown to the southern Chinese city of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, where 10 of the slain workers were born, China's official Xinhua News Agency said.
From (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4200306,00.html)