Mysterious ‘sonic attacks’ continue

BEIJING — The State Department has evacuated at least 11 Americans from China after abnormal sounds or sensations were reported by government employees at the U.S. Consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou, officials said, deepening a mystery that has so far confounded investigators.

At least eight Americans associated with the consulate have now been evacuated, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In addition, one employee from the consulate in Shanghai and two from the embassy in Beijing were sent to the U.S. for further medical tests after undergoing examinations that the department encouraged when the first report of illnesses in Guangzhou surfaced in April, the official said.

Secretary of State Mike Pom- peo raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in a call that otherwise focused on the diplomacy surrounding North Korea’s nuclear program, according to a statement released Friday in Beijing.

The cases in Guangzhou — and now possibly Shanghai and Beijing — are similar to a wave of illnesses that struck Americans working at the embassy in Havana, beginning in 2016. Another American there was reported last week to have symptoms, bringing the total number of those afflicted by what have been described as “sonic attacks” to 25.

The sounds and sensations in Cuba, and now China, have been attributed to sophisticated electronic eavesdropping or aural harassment, with some pointing fingers at Russia or China. Other experts have raised the possibility of environmental factors or mass hysteria.