At least 11 Chinese construction workers have been killed in Afghanistan in an attack described by Beijing as a \"brutal terrorist act\". An Afghan national was also killed and several Chinese wounded. The attack took place in north-eastern Afghanistan, an area considered one of the safest in the country. No one has claimed responsibility for the incident. It is the second fatal attack on foreign workers in Afghanistan in a week. The killings took place when about 20 armed men attacked two tents in which the construction workers were sleeping, south of the city of Kunduz. Chinese officials say the dead men were part of a team of 100 Chinese nationals employed by the China Railway Construction Shisiju Group Corporation. The men - most of whom came from the eastern Chinese province of Shandong - were employed building a road in the region. Many of the victims had barely been in Afghanistan for a week. The motive behind the attack - one of the bloodiest yet on foreigners in Afghanistan - is not clear. However, recent months have seen a steady rise in the targeting of foreigners by members of the deposed Taleban regime. Last week, three Europeans and two Afghans working for the Medecins sans Frontieres aid agency were ambushed and killed by gunmen in north-western Afghanistan, an area that was broadly regarded as safe from extremists. According to China\'s official Xinhua news agency, Chinese firms are involved in three major projects in Afghanistan - renovating a hospital in Kabul, rebuilding major road links and repairing Parwan\'s irrigation canals. China reopened its embassy in Kabul in 2002, after an interval of almost a decade during the heavy fighting between the Taleban and other factions. Northern Afghanistan is seen as one of the most stable areas of the country with about 200 German peacekeepers based in Kunduz. (BBC)