BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll of Chinese workers killed in a terrorist attack in northern Afghanistan Thursday morning has increased to 11, according to a source with the relevant Chinese company.

    One more wounded worker, among the five injured workers as previously reported, has died, an engineer with China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation (CRSGC), the employer of the killed and injured workers, told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

    The engineer, surnamed Che, said that the CRSGC got the news from its Afghan branch, immediate boss of these Chinese workers.

    The headquarters of CRSGC based in Jinan, capital city of eastern China's Shandong province, has set up an emergent task force ready to leave for Afghanistan as early as possible, Che said.

    To lend a hand for family members and relatives of the workers in China, the CRSGC also set up a domestic team to handle follow-up issues, he said.

    "It's very difficult for us to communicate with our branch office in Afghanistan now," said Che, adding that the group will watch closely on the latest development and keep contacts with relevant departments.

    The attack occurred at around 01:00 a.m. local time (2030 GMT Wednesday) on a construction site 36 km south of Kunduz province when some 20 gunmen opened fire at Chinese workers and security guards.

    The construction site is for a 230-kilometer-long road project undertaken by the CRSGC, who won the bidding last October and started the construction not long before, said the engineer.

    It is reported that there were around 100 workers at the site. Many of them came from China's Shandong province and just arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday. There was an exchange of fire between the security guards and the armed gunmen.

    This is the first major casualties China has encountered in Afghanistan in the past two years. Enditem